Journey For Love
by Skywaters
Summary: AU In this feudal world of magic, Natsu had promised his dead bestfriend, Lisanna to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. Together with Gray, Happy and Lucy, he sets out dodging evil plots and organisations to complete his quest. Would Natsu go to the farthest ends of the world to find her or would he realize that she was already by his side? EVENTUAL NALU JerZa GaLe Gruvia
1. A scarlet autumn

**A/N DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ITS CHARACTERS**

**Thanks for choosing this story. I hope you enjoy :)**

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Chapter One - A Scarlet Autumn

Natsu stared rather mournfully into her dying orbs, his frantic eyes scanning the little traces of light left in her clear blue ones. His hands shook uncontrollably as they cradled her head in a gentle embrace. She felt so fragile, as if she would break if he held her too tightly.

Tears threatened to fall. Gritting his teeth, he stared determinedly into her dulling eyes, some part of him afraid to lose sight of them. His own pain buzzed numbly at him, his own injuries protesting for treatment. But he didn't care. He only cared about the dying girl in his arms, who he was proud enough to call his best friend.

As if handling a china doll, he brushed aside the white strands of hair that lay matted on her sweaty forehead. His eyes narrowed, glaring childishly at the thin trail of scarlet that dripped slowly from her temple, stopping it with one finger when the red stream dipped into her eyelashes. He couldn't bring himself to stare at the dagger that protruded from her stomach, where the blood gushed, staining her clothes and painting her fair complexion scarlet.

The dying girl only smiled sadly, her heart clenching painfully as she stared up at the rose-haired teenager. The pain was biting at her from all sides, the main focus being her stomach. But she ignored it all, focusing her attentions on her shaky breaths and the glowing boy who she loved. Through the strange buzzing of her mind, she struggled to remain conscious.

She knew. She would never see him again. This was the last time. The final. With half-lidded eyes, she raised her arms achingly towards his gentle hand, and clasped it shakily, It was painful to move, but she held on, holding the boy's hand to her bloodied chest. Her eyes crinkled in silent laughter at the expressions on his face as she continued to hold on, her limbs dead and unfeeling.

"No!" Natsu cried, his voice breaking out on his last word. "You can't leave me. You promised me that you would live. You promised me that you would stay with me. "Please, stay with me." Natsu's desperate tone broke out at the end of his speech. His eyes were wild, backed by un-shed tears. "You can't leave me… just not yet…"

"No." Her lips parted weakly as she rasped," Natsu, calm down."

"No! I will not calm down." Natsu stared fiercely into her blue orbs. "Just wait. Wendy will be here soon. I swear she will heal you."

The sad smile spread wider across her face, an inward part of her wincing at the pain that it brought. She smiled at him in admiration, awed by his determination and spirit. The pain continued to stab at her as she sacrificed her smile to shake her head slowly. Her loose white hair swayed gently in the non-existent wind. Tears pricked the back of her eyes, the traitorous liquid welling up without her permission. "Natsu." She grasped his hand tenderly in hers, nursing his scars with her bloodied hands. An affectionate smile crossed her face once more as she gazed at his familiar coal eyes.

Natsu rambled on, ignoring her attempts to talk. His hands fiddled unconsciously with her short strands of white hair. "No, she will definitely heal you. If she doesn't then I'll carry you to another doctor. If the doctor there can't heal you I'll…"

"Natsu." A stronger buzzing made itself known at the back of her mind. She had little time left. "Natsu. NATSU!"

Natsu froze as her sweet voice echoed throughout the wide fields of grass and autumn leaves. Tall tufts of blood soaked grasses bowed their head to the wrath of a sudden wind. Red and yellow leaves blew along with it in a furious dance. "Natsu." She whispered. "Please." Her voice grew fainter as a visible shudder ran up her spine. "Listen to me."

There was then silence. Even the wind had stopped howling to hear the last words of his best friend. Gradually, Natsu lowered his head in consent, his pink hair close enough to brush against her skin. .

"Natsu." She croaked out. "Please remember. I will never leave you. So please don't forget me. I-" A sudden coughing fit took over her as blood, mixed with saliva fell in large droplets onto the grassy field, splattering her hand with the scarlet liquid.

At once, Natsu's stomach sank heavily, his heart compacting with an undefinable blend of emotions. He rushed to comfort her in some way, adjusting his lap and smoothing down her strands of white hair.

"I wish for one thing." She rasped. "Remember, Natsu. You promised to marry me."

He nodded.

"Would you really have married me if this didn't happen?" She gestured weakly with a shallow giggle.

"Yes." Natsu didn't hesitate to answer.

The girl smiled. "Really...? That makes me so happy." Her eyes fluttered shut for the briefest moment. "But it looks like it will never happen now. So-"

"No!" Natsu cried out, cutting her words off.

"So," She rasped firmly over his loudness. "I want you to marry someone else. I want you to be happy. So I, knowing how dense you are, want you to find the most beautiful woman in this world. It can be of your opinion."

Natsu stared confusedly at her expectant eyes, the eyes that were brimming with tears of regret and sorrow. Her radiant smile however, was a stark contrast.

"Natsu." The girl continued. "I want you to marry her and live the rest of your life with her." She smiled sadly once more. "It's a selfish request, but I hope you'll agree."

There was a silence where her voice lingered. Natsu hesitated in confusion, a question hanging limply at the tip of his tongue. But his sorrow overcame his curiosity. A simple sigh of consent echoed from his lips. It was in that silence, that a stream of blood flowed slowly down from her temple, staining the long strands of natural white hair that covered her forehead. Natsu only stopped it carefully with the tips of his scarf.

"Yes, yes" He murmured, and stared down to her radiant face. She was so beautiful. Even with her face marred with bloody scars, she truly looked like an angel, with her white locks of hair splayed out around her. Like a pure halo tainted with crimson.

"Natsu?" She asked, her voice cut through the silence like knife on butter. Raising her head slightly, she asked in a soft voice, "Will you sing me a song?"

She felt his head nod to her request and felt the low vibrations of a familiar song wash over her. Her smile grew wider. His singing was just as tuneless as she'd remembered.

_Following the moonlight_

_Brushing through trees_

_The road is lit up bright_

_To lead me to you_

_Crawling by twilight_

_Humming with joy_

_To see you're alright_

_The joy of my life_

The dying girl refused to cry, especially not in the presence of boy she loved. She knew this was probably the last time she would see him, the last time she will hear his voice. She knew they would never meet again. Yet she refused to cry and instead supported a radiant smile as she let the tuneless singing wash over her.

All of a sudden, her eyes fluttered open at the first pelt of a stray rain drop. A second one followed, then a third. The sky split to reveal a down pour, washing away the blood that tainted her blouse, stinging her wounds. A genuine giggle was caught in her throat as she smiled, the rain washing away her regrets.

It was then that the dam broke. Her tears flooded free, mixing in with the pouring rain that pelted onto the face. A beaming smile lit up her face of tears and rain as her eyelids slid slowly over her glassy eyes. There was nothing left to regret as Natsu's low singing and her numbing pain lured her into a warm blackness. A blackness she knew that she'll never wake from again.

"Natsu. I love you. I always have, always will." Her whisper was carried into the sounds of the pouring rain and wind, its echo like a fading shine.

Natsu startled as if woken from a deep sleep. His singing stopped abruptly. He didn't care that rain was seeping into his hair. He didn't care about the pain that was stinging at him. Only sorrow and that lump of tangled emotions remained, where they lodged deeply into his heart. It was only when her hand became limp that his tears fell. They fell in torrents, blending into the rain that streamed down his face. In his brief moment of insanity, he let out a loud scream of frustration, hate and sorrow. Frustration for not being able to save her. Hate for the people who killed her and sorrow for the irreplaceable loss of his best friend. She was dead. There was nothing he could do anymore.

Nothing. There was nothing.

"Goodbye…" His whisper was choked with uncontrollable sobs as it floated into the wind, echoing. "Lisanna."

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**Thank you so much for reading!**

**Ok. I know the first chapter was rather cliché. No, scratch that, it was VERY cliché. But regardless of its cliché-ness, I really hope you'll continue reading, cause a LOT of people usually drop after reading the first chapter.**

**So HOPEFULLY, it'll be better in the next chapter.**

**But please take into account that this chapter is rewritten. So the quality of writing in the next chapter may seem extremely ugly in comparison to this chapter. But don't worry, I'll be rewriting it soon!**

**ANYWAYS! Hmmm… review please?**


	2. Let's set out!

**A/N DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ITS CHARACTERS. I own the plot though**

**Hi there, on my profile i said i would post new chapter on Sunday but i finished it so might as well post it early :) Sorry if you are a Nali hater as this chapter would be Nali as well BUT is crucial to build up plot. To you who are wondering, Lucy WILL come in soon. Hahaha Please enjoy :) **

_**Itallics is the** flashback_

**Editor for grammar and stuff : Pecha Pichu**

Chapter Two- Let's set out

_She was dead. There was nothing he could do for her anymore._

_Lifting his head to gaze at her peaceful face one last time, Natsu whispered, his voice floated into the wind. "Goodbye.… Lisanna_

It was two years since then. On that one night, the whole of the village came forward to mourn the loss of their friend and protector/fellow mage. Rumours flew. Some say she was killed by wolves, some say she was murdered because of her family debts. Only one person really knew what happened: a certain fire dragon slayer. After that incident, Natsu had suffered depression throughout the long two years. The fire mage had cooped himself up in his dingy house refusing to see anyone except for Gray, an ice-make mage and his supposedly rival. However, it was on this one day that he decided to meet the outside world again.

But should he? Natsu debated this over in his head. Lisanna wouldn't have wanted him to stay cooped up in this dingy house. She would have wanted him to meet other people and live his life to the fullest. His eyes hardened as he remembered that day, the one day that haunted him in his nightmares, the one that caused him to suffer this torture.

_It was a typical autumn day when he and Lisanna took their daily patrol around the edge of their small village. They were what you would call wizards and they, along with a larger group protected the little village from harm. As they patrolled, a small conversation had started._

_"Natsu?" Lisanna gazed at him with shining eyes. "What would you do when you become of age?"_

_Natsu shrugged nonchalantly, "I dunno… maybe I'll travel and find new places I guess… why the question? We're only 16. Well, I'm 16 and you're 15._

_"Geez. Do you really have to rub it in that I'm younger than you?" Lisanna retorted, annoyed at the fact that her best friend could be so dense. Her tone immediately softened as she said her next words. "Well, let's get married, Natsu, when we come of age." A light blush immediately decorated her cheeks as she waited for his reaction. _

_Natsu blushed heavily, his pink hair swayed in the wind. "U-um m-marry...?" He stuttered, unable to finish his words._

_Unable to contain her amusement, Lisanna let out a loud snort followed by wild laughing as if it was the first time she laughed in her life. _

_"W-what?" Natsu was confused and he watched Lisanna as she laughed even harder at his puzzled expression and clutched her stomach as she laughed_

_"Hahaha…" She stopped to catch her breath and turned to Natsu with an amused expression. "Geez, I was kidding. You should have seen the expression on your face. Just hilarious!"_

_"Hey!" Natsu's blush immediately subsided as he realised he was tricked. Glaring at her, his expression suddenly changed from an indignant look to a look of mischief. Without warning, he pounced on her, tickling her sides with feather-light fingers. They fell to the grass in a laughing heap. Squirming and gasping for breath, Lisanna tried kicking him off, however he was heavier than her and she was stuck. _

_"Hahaha.. Stop it ...Natsu, stop it!" Her eyes swam in tears of laughter as she tried to pry the pink-haired boy off her. Blindly thrusting her knee out, she realised that she had connected. Her eyes widened in surprise as all of Natsu's movements stopped and the heavy weight was lifted off her. Opening her clear blue eyes, she realised with a jolt, the reason why Natsu was currently rolling around in pain. She blinked. Oh. She had accidently hit him __**there**__. All of a sudden, an urge to laugh consumed her as she struggled not to. If she laughed, he might think that she did it on purpose._

"_Oww.." Natsu was still rolling around on that soft grass. His hands clasped firmly on that area as he silently willed the pain to stop. Still looking on with amusement, Lisanna walked tentatively up to where he was currently rolling in the grass and sat down next to his figure still writhing in pain._

_When the pain finally subsided, Natsu turned to his best friend with a sulking expression. "What was that for?" he yelled, still flinching from the memory._

_That expression was all it needed for Lisanna to start laughing. With a loud snort she giggled with her hands clutched to her stomach. "Ahahaha…. My stomach hurts…. So-orry…" With that phrase, another round of giggles consumed her. "…It was an accident." She choked out. It really was hilarious. She just didn't know why._

_Natsu just stared incredulously at her. All he could hear was the chirping of the birds and her sweet laugh emanating throughout the meadow. She really did have a sweet voice, he noted. After a few minutes, she finally calmed down enough to apologise again._

"_Ah. Sorry. I didn't know." Her eyes still held amusement as she said all this with a stoic face. _

"_Nah, its fine." He said, then turned his head away. He grew suspicious after a minute of silence from the usually talkative girl. Turning his face to hers again, he noticed a curious glint in her eyes. "What now?" He grumbled._

"_Ah, nothing." Her voice was bright and cheery. Too bright and cheery._

"_What is it?" _

"_Umm… just asking, how much does it hurt?" Her eyes glinted with mischief and curiosity._

"_What hurts?" _

"_Err, what I just did to you." _

"_Ohhh… well try attaching two heavy sandbags to your groin and knee it. See how it hurts." He grumbled audibly and flinched once again from the painful memory._

_Laughing lightly, Lisanna apologised once again before sitting briefly on the grass, twirling her white hair around her fingers. A comfortable silence descended on them as they listened to the sounds of nature. It was a great day, she noticed. The sun was out, the sky was clear and a nice breeze was blowing through the meadow. Sighing silently, she didn't want to break the silence but she needed to know. _

_Breaking the silence, she said his name once again. "Natsu?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_Would you marry me when we're of age?" Natsu turned his head. She was serious._

_Without a split hesitation, Natsu answered her question with ease and a large smile on his face. "Sure thing, hahaha we will go on missions together and cook together and stuff. It would be awesome." _

_Lisanna smiled widely though she couldn't hide her disappointment. Natsu really was a dense idiot._

"_Lisanna? What's wrong?" Natsu frowned at the crestfallen look on her face. Was it something he said?_

"_No, it's nothing." Turning her head to meet the black eyes of her affection, she grinned widely and suddenly stuck out her pinkie in Natsu's direction. "Promise?"_

"_Huh?" Natsu looked at her in confusion before understanding clicked in and wrapped his pinkie around hers in a pinkie promise. "I promise." _

_Rising up, she skipped ahead of Natsu in a happy gait and hummed a little tune to accompany her skip. "Well let's finish our patrol!"_

_In that moment, all of a sudden, the soft breeze became a howling wind, the perfect sky darkened into a stormy night and two shadows simultaneously appeared in the flailing branches of a tree._

_It was at this time that the bandits struck. _

_Lisanna's blue eyes widened slightly before she muttered a quick phrase to Natsu behind her. "Natsu. We have company."_

_Natsu barely registered her phrase as he was attacked almost immediately after the last word had left her mouth. Left, right, left, bottom, right, top. Natsu dodged and defended against this intruder trying desperately to memorise their pattern. After seeing Lisanna's battle stance through the hazy flashes of arms, he figured out there were two people. Bandits… he thought dryly. He then realised. If there are two here then... the rest of his group must be at the village. The village is in danger! _

_Looking up at his attacker, he felt a nauseous feeling pass through him that only transport can initiate. The most memorable thing about his appearance was his greasy handle-bar moustache. Even when concentrated in battle, Natsu can't help but focus a part of his attention on this oily looking moustache. The rest of the face wasn't any better. Right above his moustache was a pimpled nose followed by thin slitted eyes that seemed to curve downwards. A curtain of black hair draped onto his shoulders._

_Hitting back with a punch, he felt his fist connect briefly before he was flung out of range. Skidding into the grass, Natsu felt a jolt of realization. This guy was a mage. Standing up he pointed a bloody finger at the moustache man._

"_Oi You! Since when did bandit organisations let wizards like you join?" his voice was scathing, mocking the man while his eyes flitted around to where Lisanna was. She wasn't there. _

"_Oh. So you have finally realized. If you have realised that then you should have realized that you cannot hurt me in any way" His voice was just as oily as his moustache._

"_Do not underestimate me!" Natsu rushed forward again, aiming for his head. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" A huge burst of flame covered his hand as he aimed for the stranger's head. Like before he was repelled and flung across the grass and smashed into a tree trunk just as he made contact with his forehead._

_Pain shot slowly through him as he slid down the rough exterior of the tree trunk. The splinters of woodstuck into his back, his cloth was ripped by the force of the shield. _

_Natsu didn't give up "Fire Dragon's Roar!" He clasped his hands together as a stream of high pressured flames shot out of his mouth engulfing the bandit in a large fireball. However, just as the fireball made contact, it was suddenly repelled, blasted back into him and slamming him back into the same tree. _

_Looking down on him in all his glory was the moustache man. He was standing in the exact same position as last time and not one scratch or burn was visible to the eye. "So this is all the famous salamander can do!" he cackled while his slitted eyes slitted even more into fine slits. _

"_Fire Dragon's R-" Natsu was once again slammed in the same tree, but this time by the man's kick. Gasping slightly, Natsu head snapped up to where the man planted his shoe into his chest._

"_I told you. You can do nothing to harm me in any way. My shield is impenetrable." He then let out another cackle watching his foe's face with an unearthly smile. _

_Raising his head, Natsu looked for signs of damage on the man's body. Finding none, he balled up his remaining magic power when all of a sudden; a singed piece of cloth caught his eyes. It was the cloth covering the man's ankle. _

_A smirk crossed Natsu's face as he realised that the ultimate defence, supported a weak point. Still smirking at the man, Natsu noticed that he was panting slightly, his figure hunched over._

_With a smirk of triumph, Natsu pounded his magic into the man's ankle. "Fire Dra-" _

"_I told you it wouldn't work!"_

"_-gon's Iron Fist!" The man's eyes widened a fraction, as he realised the pink-haired boy's aim and escaped from harm. But he wasn't fast enough as his ankle became severely burned._

_Jumping back to a safe distance, the man cursed before he snarled wildly at Natsu. "Boy, how did you know where to hit?"_

"_I can tell that your magic supply is almost finished. It is only logical that you wouldn't have enough power to cover your entire body." He paused slightly before continuing. "I suppose that your power is at your limit by now." Natsu pointed at a larger patch of raw burnt skin. "You have a strong magic, but in the end you are just as weak." He hoisted himself back into standing position._

_For the first time they had met, a look of fear struck the intruder. Cursing his weakness, he knew that his left leg was unusable. _

_Natsu powered all his magic into the last attack. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" He watched as the blazing fireball launched itself onto the poor man. It was a beautiful explosion. Natsu blinked. Through his semi-consciousness, a shadow seemed to reach into the fire and pull the somehow crispy moustache man out of danger._

"_Retreat!" He heard. A deep blackness was about to take over him when suddenly, all his senses tingled at the feel of a sudden cold wind._

_Blood. He smelt blood. Natsu bolted upright and raced to the direction of the smell. He ignored the pains of spiky branches digging into his bare feet as the smell of blood drew him closer to where Lisanna was. _

_Cliché but true, he arrived just in time to see a hunched figure of a large bird fall into the shape of a petite teenager. A long knife was protruding out of her stomach while long gashes of blood ran down her arms. _

"_Lisanna!" Natsu caught her before she fell. _

_It was that time that she had made him promise to marry a beautiful lady and where on that day, she died in his arms._

Groaning slightly, he shook his head of pink strands, clearing the memory in his head and hoisted himself into a more comfortable position, staring blindly at the cracks in his ceiling. It was still very early in the morning yet he could not sleep. He knew he had to leave this house someday and he knew Lisanna wouldn't approve of him cooped up in the house. But again, once he leaves this house, what would he do? A sudden image of Lisanna, with her battered face plastered itself into his mind. Her gentle voice still echoed to this day. _"P__romise me to marry a woman who, in your opinion is more beautiful than any other."_He really should fulfil her wish but did he really want to? Deep in thought, he startled when a large noise intruded his peaceful silence.

"Oi! Flamebrain! Are you STILL cooped up in this rundown house of yours?" A loud crash sounded after this.

Natsu sighed. Droopy eyes had crashed down his door AGAIN. Knowing what was going to happen, he lifted himself off his bed before coming face first to meet Gray's dark hair in the door frame.

Natsu did what he would have done two years ago. To counterback. "Well STOP CRASHING DOWN MY DOORS AND SHOWING UP THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING AND I'LL THINK ABOUT LEAVING HERE, DROOPY EYES!"

"THEN- wait… did you just…?" Surprise was etched onto his face. Natsu hadn't been reactive at all since the day Lisanna died and today was the first time in two years that he had responded to Gray's provokes.

"WHAT OF IT ICEHEAD? YOU WANNA FIGHT?"

Yep. He seemed back to normal, Gray noted. Without further ado, a brawl had started in this small house with the usual kicks and punches. Needless to say, not everyone was happy with their early morning wake-up call.

When both 18 year olds finally fell down onto the wooden boards of Natsu's home in exhaustion, Natsu's room was barely recognisable as a wardrobe lay on its side encased in ice (courtesy of Gray), numerous scorch marks littered the floor (courtesy of Natsu) and the rest of the room in pandemonium.

Letting out a true laugh in ages, Natsu panted letting out a wide grin. "I beat you. Droopy-eyes"

Gray smiled before muttering a soft "You wish. Slanty-eyes" Silence settled.

Natsu broke the silence. "Gray. I want to leave this village."

"Ahh, I understand. To fulfil your promise right?" Gray shifted slightly, bringing his hands to the back of his head.

"Yeah…"

"I'll come with you"

Natsu whipped head around so fast it was only a blur. "What?"

"I said. I'll come with you"

"But what about Juvia?"

"What about her?" Gray's eyes seemed downcast at the sound of her name.

"She's your patrol partner after all. Wouldn't she get upset if you leave?"

"She'll be fine. She's strong enough to handle by herself"

"But-"

"My decision is final. I will go with you whether you like it or not."

"Gray… Thank you" A soft smile lit up Natsu's face. Shifting to a sitting position with his largest smile yet, he all but deafened the ice mage. "Well. We better get packed for a long journey ahead! To find the most beautiful woman in the country! HERE WE COME!"

"You're annoying the hell out of your neighbours. Slanty-eyes."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!"

**I hope you liked it :) It would really be nice if you reviewed. Thankyou :)**


	3. Train Station Issues

**A/N DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS i own the plot though :)**

**This is probably going to be a long Author's note but i really want to thank the 8 reviewers that reviewed for me so far. So... thankyou :) I really appreciate how you would bother to tell me how you felt about my story. Keep reviewing :P **

**So this is Chapter 3. if you might have noticed, i tend to update earlier than i promise. Happy reading :)**

**Editors: Pecha Pichu, Fat Kitty and a annoying friend from school.**

_**Italics for flashbacks and thoughts.**_

Chapter 3 - Getting to the train station

It was today that he decided that he would leave this village. Soft breezes blew across his face, startling his pink curls, bringing leaves in its wake. Natsu stood stiffly on the door step of his house, admiring the familiar curves and crooks of the run-down building. Deep shadows leaked into the cracks as sunlight from the morning sun crawled over the trees.

_"What a big house you have!" She smiled, her eyes warm._

Lisanna… Natsu shook his head frantically as if trying to forget the painful memories that he stored up deep inside of him. 'Lisanna', he thought 'I will fulfil our promise, whatever the reason for it might be.'

Staring with a puzzled look on his face was a cat standing on two legs. His blue fur shone in the morning sun. Happy was an Exceed. A rare species of cat in this world with wings and the ability to talk.

"Natsu…?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Natsu…? Are you sure about this decision?"

The Fire Dragon Slayer was finally shaken out of his thoughts as he faced reality. "Don't worry Happy. I'm sure." Smiling sadly, Natsu ran his hand through Happy's cobalt fur before lightly scratching behind his ears. He knew that he would come back. He just didn't know when.

"Aye."

Adjusting the weight of his pack once more, Natsu strolled down the streets to where Gray should have been waiting at the train stop. Smiling slightly, he remembered the words of the wizened, old man, the elder of the village as he and Happy strolled leisurely down the rugged pathway.

_"I acknowledge your decisions. But I must warn you of the three rules if you leave this village" A short, old man stood proudly over a small desk. His white hair crowned his head, leaving a large bald circle in the centre. His clown hat sat joyfully on his bald head as the bell jingled at the tip every now and then when he moved. He was Makarov, the elder of the village and the master of their protection squad. _

_Natsu and Gray had stood side by side with serious expressions on their faces. "Yes." Natsu uttered, his face stoic and solemn while Happy sat on his shoulder, calmly devouring a piece of fish._

_"One." The master continued. "You must never reveal sensitive information about this village or our squads to others for as long as you live. Two, you must never use former contacts met through your being in the village for personal gain." He paused yet again as a smile suddenly consumed his wrinkled face. "Three, though our paths may have diverged, you must continue to live out your life with all your might, you must never consider your own life to be something insignificant, and you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live!"_

_For the first time since they entered the cramped house of the elder, a small smile graced Gray's lips as he turned to Natsu who was wearing the same toothy grin he had before the death of Lisanna. _

_"Thanks Gramps! We'll set out tomorrow morning on the train then!" Natsu's face supported a wide grin as he awkwardly hugged the small elder in his arms. Walking out of that cramped house, Natsu and Happy, with Gray in tow stepped out into the afternoon sun._

_ "Farewell children. Come back someday. I'll be awaiting your return."_

_ "See ya, Gramps!" Natsu yelled._

_"Yeah. See ya," Gray said walking calmly after Natsu._

_"Aye" Happy put in._

_The wizened master let out a sad smile watching the children walk away to their respective homes. A soft whisper drifted from his lips as he watched them turn a corner. "I hope you find her."_

Natsu stumbled slightly as he reached the train station, a large clock towered over him, levitating in mid-air. 8:01am. Gray was late.

…

Gray's eyelids fluttered open at the feel of the warm rays of sun streaming through his window and into his tidied room. A stuffed bag lay abandoned next to the doorway. His wandering eyes noticed that bag as he searched through his memory of what he should have been doing today. Sitting up in bed, he was about to pull a light-blue shirt over his naked chest when a jolt of realization hit him.

_"Hey Droopy-eyes. If you are coming with me then meet me at the train station at 8am in the morning. Got that? Don't be late cause we're gonna catch the 8:13 train to the White Meadow Kingdom. The train will leave without you if you're late" They had just left the elder's house and Natsu was giving instructions to Gray._

_"Who do you think I am Flamebrain? Of course I won't be late. If its 8am then I'll be there at 7am."Gray openly retorted._

_"Yeah, yeah so I'll meet you at- wait why are you going to be there at 7am?" Natsu's shocked face turned to Gray's searching for an explanation._

_Gray quickly looked away as words tumbled from his mouth. "You do know that Juvia waits at my door everyday right?"_

_Silence._

_"Huh…" Time passed as Natsu seemed to process this into his brain. "Wait, you mean that you haven't told her yet? What kind of a friend are you?" Natsu ignored the glares of the passer-bys for his loud out-burst._

_Looking Natsu in the eyes, Gray mustered the most stoic look he could and pasted it onto his face. "I don't want to see her worried over me. If I leave then she'll follow. It's as simple as that. I know the village needs her."_

_"So you're doing this for her own good?" He demanded._

_"Yeah" The word echoed at his lips, trailing into nothingness._

_"…"_

_"…"_

_"Fine." The pink-haired teenager slumped over in defeat. "I won't say a word. But you have to tell her yourself. Someday."_

_"Thanks, Natsu," His gratitude was genuine._

Damn. He was supposed to meet up with Natsu today! How could he have forgotten? He was panicking as he forced himself to get out of bed. Peering through the window, the ice mage groaned yet again as he recognised a familiar woman with silky blue locks, standing outside on his door step. Juvia was here already? Still groggy from sleep, he turned his head over to where a clock lay on its side. Rotating it, all his senses snapped awake as he stared incredulously at the time. 8:07am. Natsu loud voice echoed slowly in his mind.

"_Don't be late cause we're gonna catch the 8:13 train to White Meadow Kingdom. The train will leave without you if you're late"_

Shit. He was late.

Turning around again to peer through the window, Gray's heart clenched at the sight of the blunette, waiting for her patrol partner who would never come out of the front door. Feeling a sudden rush of panic, he picked up his packed bag, grabbed the alarm clock roughly, before escaping out of the only other window in the two-story house that wasn't in view from the front: the window in the toilet room.

It was the toilet room that he never used. As soon as he rushed into that small, dingy room, a rancid scent of toilet water immediately assaulted his nose. The window was at the very back of the room causing him to cringe slightly as he hurried pass the spider webs, collecting dust and dead insects littering the floor. The only source of light came from the window which streamed into the dark room, illuminating the toilet which was underneath it. Scrunching his nose, Gray realised that there was no toilet cover. Out of curiosity, he peered in.

Small brown blobs seemed to float on top of murky water. As he watched, a small bubble burst at the surface. There was something moving in it.

_Gross… I wonder how the smell never leaked into the rest of the house…?_ He wondered, still disgusted at himself that he never managed to detect this.

Without further ado, he climbed stealthily onto the toilet rim, balancing himself while holding onto his bag. Smiling slightly, he slid the window open before smashing his fist and his open palm together to form a slide of ice with his magic. "Ice-Make Slide!" Crouching down onto his newly made slide, Gray felt another wave of toilet water stench assault his sensitive nose. Turning back for second time, he sat still for a moment as if in debate before smirking in triumph as he accomplished his duty. He then picked up his bag as he slid gracefully to the grass.

Hah! See if you can stink up the place now. He thought joyfully. A young adult on the outside, a kid at heart.

He had frozen the toilet water.

Sliding gracefully down the ice slide, Gray's meeting with the ground had been anything but graceful. He was enjoying the soft breezes rushing through his hair as he descended, accelerating more and more as he slid down the slide. That was until he found his face planted into the trunk of the tree looming over his two-storied house. Spitting out a mouth of splinters, he groaned loudly for the third time that morning before turning to his alarm clock, still clutched in his hands. 8:09am. He was making good progress.

…

Natsu paced anxiously next to a bench wondering when Gray would arrive. Peering up at the large metal clock above, he felt another rush of anxiety pass swiftly through him. 8:11am. The train was due in 2 minutes.

…..

Gray was fully panicking. After taking one last gaze in Juvia's direction, he had left his building as quietly as possible, ignoring the jerks of pain from his recent meeting with the tree trunk. 8:12am. He had no more time.

Finally, hobbling into view was the familiar rugged path to the train station when, suddenly, out of desperation, an idea flashed into his head. He looked up and began observing the rugged path. A downslope. Perfect. Grinning almost manically, he began putting his plan into action. "Ice-Make F-"

"Whatcha doing in your underpants, mister?" A little girl had interrupted him. He had been so involved in his brilliant plan that he hadn't noticed her presence at all. But something caught his attention at that phrase.

Oh shit. Looking down on himself, he realised that he was in his boxers as he forgot to put on his clothes when rushing out of the house. Oh the shame… Under the little girl's scrutiny, he cringed inwardly as the girl continued on.

"Hahaha… you're _naked_" Her pretty voice put the emphasis on the last word.

"Shaddup! I am not naked!" Heart racing, Gray looked to his alarm clock. 45 seconds left.

"Ice-make Floor!" Touching the ground with his hands, the ice grew from the spot where he touched it. The ice spread quickly over the rest of the pathway forming a ice-rink like effect. He then planted his feet onto that ice and began to glide at a speedy pace, accelerating faster as the path turned to a gentle slope. "See ya, little girl!" He called out, leaving her stunned with her mouth hanging open.

He smirked knowingly as he slid down the path.

If there were people walking that rugged path at that time of the day, all they would have seen would be the blur of a semi-naked man glide pass them as they'd try to figure out where all the ice came from.

….

A low rumbling noise startled Natsu out of his pacing. It was 8:13. Looking up, he cringed slightly as the metallic train came rolling in. As it came to a rumbling halt, Natsu rushed to the train staff asking for a delay.

"Please, delay this train for a few minutes!" Natsu pleaded. Happy stood silently next to him.

"I'm sorry sir, but that just isn't possible. Please get on."

"Oohh…" A deep gutting feeling fell heavy on his stomach the moment he stepped onto the train. Why oh why did he choose transport? Why couldn't he have chosen to walk instead? Oh right… the village was an isolated village. The nearest kingdom was thousands of miles away.

"Natsu. We gotta get moving." Happy, with his small body was trying to drag Natsu away from the entrance but with no luck.

Just as Natsu collapsed from motion-sickness onto the hard floor of the entrance of the train, an incredibly icy sensation covered his hand. Through his haziness, he noticed a solid, clear substance clinging to the entrance, covering the floor. Glass? No it was ice.

"Gray!" He choked out through chunks of vomit and looked up.

Gray Fullbuster was gliding towards him at full speed before stopping skilfully at exactly 1 centimetre away from his nose with dead accuracy. "C'mon. Let's get you up, Flamebrain." He said as he tossed Natsu's body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walked off in search of a train seat.

Throwing a casual "Bye" to the train staff, he threw him onto the first train-seat he saw, seating opposite him and began observing the train's interior.

As his mind defogged, Natsu took a clear look at Gray. Smiling slightly, he rasped to Gray in an insensitive voice. "Yo, Underwearman. You forgot your clothes again… and why are you holding an…. alarm clock…?"

"Shut it Slanty-eyes. Be glad I came on time."

"WHAT DID Y- oogug-" Natsu fell back into vomit position as the train suddenly started moving, the rocking motion proving too great for the Dragon Slayer.

While Natsu struggled not to vomit, Gray leaned back, a soft smile tugged at his lips while the image of a young lady floated into his mind, her curled blue locks swaying gently in the wind.

Wordless, his mouth moved of its own accord. "Juvia… I'll come back. I swear I will."

**Hahaha... that was really long-winded. I have to admit that i was really nervous in writing this. i was really scared about letting my readers down... and the characters are a bit OOC. Anyways i've got some stuff to say.**

******Firstly, if you are confused about the setting, it is a world with different kingdoms with towns in it. Natsu's village doesn't belong to a kingdom and is pretty much isolated from them. **

**Secondly, yeah... there are trains in this fic which are powered by magic**

**Lastly, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask me :)**

**Well... NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE POSTED NEXT FRIDAY EVENING. i have actually started writing it already and i'll give you a glimpse of the next chapter. **

_"Thief!" _

_Natsu turned around just in time to see the hooded stranger run from a magic stall, its hand clasping onto a silver key-like object. As the hood billowed from the wind, the stranger turned abruptly to face him. Startled, Natsu watched as a strand of blonde hair caught his eye followed by a set of deep hazel eyes. Frozen in its gaze, he couldn't help but gape wordlessly as he watched the retreating back of the hooded stranger until it dissappeared around the corner._

**As i said, please please Review and tell me what you feel about my fanfic. Don't hesitate to voice what's on your mind. Once again, thankyou for reading my Fanfic. :)**


	4. Laflower Town

**A/N DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. i own the plot though :)**

**Hi people! i updated early! Anyways this is a REALLY long chapter... well for me it is. Thanks for the people that reviewed for Chapter 3 cause I really appreciate it. **

**Editor/s: Pecha Pichu**

**Well... Happy reading :D**

Chapter 4- Laflower Town

It was four days later that the train finally arrived at its destination - White Meadow Kingdom.

….

There was a platform in the middle of tall lush forests and greenery. Loud beeps and discerning yells filled that platform as the grand train rolled in with a flourish before halting neatly as a huge bundle of steam followed in its wake. Over the large amount of noise, the speakers were heard loud and clear, cutting through the noise like scissors on paper. As the crowds rushed out, the only people seemingly standing in the way was a pink head, a raven head and a blue cat.

"Thank-you for boarding the F.T Trains. Please watch your steps on your way out and we hope you have a nice day!"

Natsu staggered after Happy out of the vehicle before collapsing onto the floor of the platform. Vomit trails streamed out, leaving lumpy liquids on the platform, which passengers struggled to avoid as they rushed for the exit. Raising his arm half-heartedly in a 'save me' gesture, Natsu peered up unhappily to meet Gray's dark-blue eyes.

"Get up Slanty-eyes. We don't have time." Gray kicked playfully at his rival who was still wriggling helplessly on the ground. "We need to find somewhere to live and some food as soon as possible. Ok? So hurry up."

_Food._ Natsu's head jerked up at the mention of food, wiping away the drools of vomit that was lingering on his jaw. He then lolled his tongue in a comical manner.

"Food?" In a flash, Natsu sprung to his feet, his motion-sickness seemingly forgotten. He then fingered his own pack before strutting off towards the nearest town. "Let's go! I'm all fired up!"

"Aye!"

Gray smirked before following in his footsteps. Birds chirped. Leaves rustled. It was a comfortable silence. The only things heard on that rocky trail were the grunts and trudging steps of two rivals as they made their way to the nearest town accompanied by the occasional wings-beats from Happy.

….

"Mmmph, I'm so full…" Natsu collapsed onto the nearest bedding, his limbs splayed out in different directions. His pink-haired was tousled whilst a dreamy smile lit up his face.

Taking the other bedding next to a window, Gray smiled lazily at their good luck as he lay on the bed with his chest bared for the world to see, a thin memory trickling through his mind as he ran his fingers through his dark hair.

_It was an early evening when they stumbled into Laflower Town, a town famous for its blooming flowers in the Spring and for its vast magic markets (Markets set up just to sell and buy pieces of magic equipment) which are renowned to be the largest in all the kingdoms. All was silent, save for the chirping of crickets while a warm wind blew, rustling the trees. It was when they trudged across an abandoned alley, exhausted and worn-out, something happened. A shrill scream had sliced through the peaceful night like a knife, its voice cracking several octaves, before dying to a low whimper. _

_After a shocked silence, Gray and Natsu turned to one another while Happy decided to search from the air. Expressions of understanding flashed briefly on their darkened faces as they both nodded once in unison, the moon outlining the seriousness of their faces. At a speedy pace, both mages sprinted into the alley, their once worn-out looks replaced by determination as they ran towards the piecing scream with the agility and grace of twin leopards._

_It was an old lady. Her wrinkled skin shone in the dim moonlight while her face contorted into an expression of fear. A masked figure loomed over her, a sharp piece of metal placed threateningly at her throat as he extracted and examined the contents of her bag which lay wide open on the ground. Natsu's eyes widened in recognition at the gesture. _

_A robbery._

"_Hey! Leave that old woman alone!" Natsu's accusation echoed into the night as the masked figure startled and dropped his equipment in shock, watching the fire mage bear down on him without mercy. _

_Crack. Natsu felt the robber's jaw break on contact as his punch landed. Weak. He was just a normal person, not a mage. Letting out a sigh of relief, Natsu watched carefully, eyeing the body with a scrutinised glare as it scampered away, still clutching its broken jaw until the figure disappeared into the darkness. Facing Gray again, he watched, feeling useless, as Gray applied treatment to the old lady's wounds. _

"_Th-th-ank-y-you." The elderly woman stuttered, still in shock of what just happened. Staring at their faces, the lady rewarded them with a shaky grin, eyes flittering around as though trying to memorise their features. _

"_You're welcome!" Natsu grinned at her with his toothy-grin, waiting anxiously for her response._

_Gray just shrugged one shoulder before helping her up. "It was nothing." He paused. "What happened to you?"_

"_I-I was tak-king th-the s-short c-cut like I usually d-did when I w-was a-attacked."_

"_Aahh…"_

_Blinking slowly, the woman suddenly seemed doubtful of the newcomers as the shock seemed to wear off. "You two aren't from around here, right? Travellers maybe?"_

"_Yeah. You see, we just got here and were trying to look for a place to stay for a few days." It was Gray that answered._

_The lady nodded her white head of curls in understanding. "Aahh… I see. Well it's late already and you two might as well stay at my cottage tonight. I'm sure my husband won't mind."_

"_Really?!" Natsu's loud voice interrupted the peacefulness of the conversation, "Then we accept! But there is also one more. You see-"_

"_Natsu! Did you two forget about me? You're so mean!" A childish voice joined the circle as a flutter of wings signalled the arrival of the Exceed. _

"_Wai-"_

"_So this was the other one you were talking about." She observed the blue cat intently before speaking. "Very well. Please follow me." In a calm manner, as if she had not just witnessed a talking cat with blue fur, she picked up her bag and its contents. With a swish of her long skirt as she dusted herself, she then walked with her back straight towards the end of the alley. It was a long walk as they stopped every now and then to avoid abnormally large, dead cockroaches and scampering rodents. When it seemed like an eternal walk, the path finally gave way to a lighter path which ended in a… dead end._

_She stopped abruptly, the stray strands of white hair from her bun swayed in a sudden breeze. "Please do not be shocked." She said calmly to her audience before placing her dry hand onto the paved wall where a doorknob would usually be on a door. Settling her hand over its carved surface, she paused slightly before pulling it towards her as if in great effort. A low humming sound gradually filled the air. Slowly, the wall cracked into a door-like shape opening outwardly as her hand held a sort of force over it. It then finally swung outwards, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. She stepped aside, offering her audience to go in before her._

_The mages' faces were of almost-complete amazement and a titbit of suspicion as they stepped cautiously into the inky blackness of the hole, treading onto grass before recognising the dark mass in front of them as a small cottage. Eyes still wide with amazement, Natsu turned to the old lady as though expecting a kind of explanation. _

_She spoke under his gaze, amusement evident as a wide grin graced her wrinkled face. "That was our back door." She said simply. " And this," She gestured at the wide expanse of grass lying at their feet. "This is our garden, while the that is our cottage." She then pointed a bony hand at the cottage. _

_Immediately after the last word had left her mouth, the veranda brightened, as a light, lit up by a lacrima, turned on, illuminating the beauty of the cottage. It was a small cottage, its roof hanging over the house gave the slight impression of a mushroom. A short chimney sat on top of the scarlet roof as the veranda's railing was composed of beaten silver metal with vines which twirled intricately into the decorative gaps. A dark shadow stirred within as the door slammed open with a loud bang followed by an old man tumbling out the door, his cane in hand. _

"_Maria! Where have you been? I've been waiting for my dinner! How co-" He cried, a long wispy white beard covering his chin. His head was as bald as though it had been waxed beforehand. He suddenly stopped short after seeing two strangers and a cat standing on his lawn. "Maria…Who are these people?"_

_Long story short, Natsu, Gray and Happy introduced themselves, then were invited in after being eyed suspiciously by the old man. The old woman's name was Maria Coopelt while her husband's name was James Coopelt. Remarkably, the cottage was a lot larger than it actually looked containing five rooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room and a rather large living room. After eating with the elderly couple, Natsu, Gray and Happy were given one of the spare guest rooms to stay for the night. It was one of the better days of the month. _

"Huururugpup…" Gray frowned slightly as Natsu's deafening snores filled the room. How was he going to sleep tonight? He gave a short huff before turning out the lights, his tired eyes closed rapidly by themselves. Stupid Squinty-eyes and his snores. Always so de- his body betrayed his thoughts as Gray lost consciousness before his head hit the soft feather-light clutches of the pillow. Instinctively, he inhaled the scent deeply. It was a mixture of musty cloth and icy scent of mint… like the smell of home.

…..

"MORE FOOD PLEASE!"

Freezing in the middle of his bite, Gray looked up at Natsu in disgust as he watched the blue cat and his friend/rival simultaneously inhaling the food as though it was air. It was morning, and they had discovered a cheap café near the town-edge for breakfast after leaving Maria's house at dawn. It was a small cottage like café made of walls of wooden strips, criss-crossed over to form a lattice structure. Laki's Café, it was called.

Feeling the disgusted gaze of the ice mage, Natsu looked up, a piece of noodle dangling from his wide open mouth to meet the disgusted looks of Gray's with a look of his own. "Wha' ya 'ookin' at?"

Gray swallowed noticeably before answering. "Nothing. So what are you going to do?"

"Mmmm..?"

"We arrived already so we might as well start doing some stuff instead of lazing around. Besides we also need some cash."

"Mmmh. 'unno…'aybe I'll try do comp'ete my promis' 'oday" A blob of chewed meat and saliva landed slickly onto the surface of the table.

"About your promise? How are you gonna find her?"

He swallowed. "Maybe I'll go around town looking at girls … and figure out if they're pretty or not. They have to be between the ages of 15- 25. I'm not marrying anyone older or younger than that." He reached for the next dish, his oily hands leaving a smear on the edge of the plate.

"Wouldn't that be rude? You can't just go around staring at girls you know? You'll be labelled as a pervert."

"Like you are?" He glanced briefly at Gray whose shirt seemed to have disappeared after leaving the cottage, his chest bared for the world to see. Natsu groaned in frustration as he heard yet **another** girlish giggle erupt from a nearby table as they set eyes on Gray's bare chest. Why oh why couldn't his rival put on more clothes like a normal person? Why…..? Drawn back into reality, Natsu answered. "What other choice do I have?" Stabbing into a chicken, he had gone back to chomping on his food like a wild animal. Food sprayed everywhere.

Gray sighed inwardly, cringing slightly from the mess that Natsu was making. This boy really was dense.

As Gray managed to turn his face away from the disgusting sight, a girl donned in a waitress uniform had arrived daintily at their table. A bright red ribbon held up her long violet tresses in a ponytail that swished as she tilted her head slightly to the side. A small smile lit up her face while her sweet voice was heard over the hustle of the kitchens. "Good evening sirs. Did you ask for more food?"

Gray, Natsu and Happy simultaneously sought for the sound of the high-pitched voice, finally landing their eyes on the purple-haired teenage girl.

Redoing her ponytail, she continued in the same bubbly voice that she first used to address them. "Would you like to choose from the book of meals, or should I read out some of the famous dishes that Laki's Café has to offer?"

Natsu and Gray faced each other with puzzled looks. _Book of meals?_

"There is the Lemon Rind Pork, a special pork dish made from lemon rinds. Oh! The Tangly-Rusted Soup would also fill your tummies really nicely. For desserts, there is also-"

"I want a fish." Happy interrupted as he munched onto his fifteenth fish.

"'ive me a'oth'r 'icken. Prefably burnt."Natsu commented through a mouthful of food, stabbing his oily fork into a half-eaten chicken.

Gray stared incredulously at his friends as they gobbled up the remaining dishes remaining on the table. After deeming himself full, he sat back and observed while Natsu turned his head to the waitress once again.

Natsu swallowed his mouthful of chicken with a loud gulp before ticking off the foods he wanted with the tips of his fingers. "Get me one full roasted chicken, preferably burnt, another Lime n' Spicy Pork Ribs and-"He stopped abruptly as a sudden look of realization hit him, peering at her as if it was the first time he saw her in a while. "Hey, are you between 15-25 years old?

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well, I'm guessing you are." Putting down his fork, Natsu stared intently at her, as if trying to memorise each and every feature of her face and body.

A light blush settled on her cheeks as she shifted nervously under his heavy gaze. As she followed the trail of his gaze, a sudden emotion welled up inside of her. The waitress cringed visibly as she felt him eye her assets before feeling a boiling rage simmer inside of her. How dare this young man eye her?

"Hmmm… Nah. You're not pretty enough. Maybe if you b-"

Erupting like a volcano, she held onto her notebook while bringing one hand across his face in a hard slap. The pink- haired mage didn't know what hit him.

"H-hey!" Natsu waved frantically to her, clutching the red mark on his right cheek as she walked furiously back to the kitchens, her notebook in hand and long ponytail swishing angrily behind her. Just as she stepped into the kitchens, they heard three distinct words from her mouth.

"I hate perverts."

A huge look of confusion crossed Natsu's face as he looked to Gray for answers before shifting his puzzled gaze to Happy, who was still munching happily on his fish as though nothing had just happened.

"W-what did I do wrong?"

"I told you. Girls like her would become offended if you do that." Gray said as he sipped his iced water.

"But why?"

"Don't ask me. It's just girl stuff"

"Oh... Oh well. It's probably just her."

"Mmm. Whatever"

"Aye!"

….

It had been a two weeks since then. They had found a small, cheap hotel to stay for the few nights, spending everyday searching through the town for marriage candidates and earning extra money through small jobs.

"Ow…" Natsu sat cross-legged on top of a dull navy bed, its sheets decorated simply with green stripes while he gingerly rubbed the newest handprint on his face, trying to tone down the angry scarlet hue as Happy lay snoring away next to him.

Gray sat opposite him, amusement evident in his eyes as he smirked knowingly. "Can't really say that I haven't told you so."

"Why…? I was just looking at her. What else am I supposed to do?" Natsu whined, touching his red cheek before flinching as it stung.

"As I said before, you can't exactly go around and expect girls to just let you stare at them, Moron. Of course they would retaliate."

"Ah… Oh well. But I think that's about all the girls in town. They're not pretty enough so we'll move onto the next town?" Satisfied with his face colour, Natsu ran his hand through his hair before peering curiously around the room. It was a small, dingy room with two single beds pushed against the wall. The swinging lacrima overhead cast an eerie light over the room causing deep shadows to spring up. Apart from the furniture, the room was bare, covered in mossy wallpaper while a gaping hole led to the small bathroom. The bathroom walls were painted a dull blue while a single crack ran across the ceiling. It contained your everyday bathroom needs but easily the most beautiful object in that room was the mirror which was covered in tiny scratches. In other words: A cheap room for a cheap rent.

"Yeah. But first we need new supplies 'cause we're running low. And we'll need them since we're walking there. So we need to go to the magic market again tomorrow and then we can set out." Gray followed Natsu's gaze, frowning at the swinging lacrima.

"Sure." Natsu shifted his body into a lying position, scratching his head. Minutes later, a snore was heard.

…..

It was a sunny day at the Laflower Magic Markets as people bustled amongst others. There was loud to music to be heard whilst strings of banners flew into the air, and the occasional hooded-figure in the crowd. A mess of clashing voices could be heard as sellers yelled out their wares, each trying to outdo the other. All in all, it was a typical, sunny market day for mages and civilians alike.

Standing goofily in front of a particular magic store was Natsu who stared longingly at the items on display while Gray and Happy went off in search of other items. It was a dragon's talon and scale that caught his attention, resting in velvet boxes behind glass cabinets and glittering in the moving lights. It was said that they possessed great powers and were able to boost the powers of Dragon Slayers seven-fold.

Inching closer still, Natsu's forehead came closer and closer until his breath was close enough to fog up the cool glass, vaguely listening to the seller's persuasive tactics to sell his products. 8,000,000,000 jewels… He could never afford that. Still awestruck by the goods on display, a sudden shout startled him causing him to bump his head ungracefully into the glass wall, leaving a large bump.

"Thief!"

Natsu whipped his head around, still grumbling about his sore head, just in time to see a hooded figure sprint from a magic stall, its hand clasping onto a silver key-like object. As the hood billowed from the wind, the stranger turned abruptly, as if sensing his presence, to face him. Startled, Natsu watched as a strand of blonde hair caught his eye followed by a set of deep hazel eyes. Frozen in its gaze, he couldn't help but gape wordlessly as he watched the retreating back of the hooded stranger until it disappeared around the corner.

The figure was small. Even with the large tattered hood and cloak covering its body, it was still obvious that the stranger was tiny. A child, Natsu decided. Frowning at his conclusion, he thought back to when their eyes met, the stranger's eyes seemingly betraying the person, as the look of hunger etched across its eyes screamed the need of food.

The feeling that ran through his veins was pity. Natsu's eyes widened in realization at the feeling of hunger, thinking back to the large meals he had devoured that morning. He decided. He would chase after this stranger.

All around him was chaos as the shopkeeper tried to chase after the stolen goods. Just as crowds formed, Natsu bolted after the trail of the stranger, determined to catch the thief as he pushed his way through the crowd of civilians and mages alike whom were all wondering about the commotion.

Rushing head first into an alleyway, the sun immediately dimmed. The clean air was replaced with the musty smell of dust while a thick scent of rotting carcasses drifted into his nose. Running blinding through alleyway after alleyway, he decided to give up after the thirtieth turn. He slowed down as he groped his way through the awful stench, determined to find the exit while keeping his hand firmly on top of his sensitive nose. All the while he was hoping that he'll bump miraculously into the thief by chance in a few minutes as he had lost all sense of direction.

But the few minutes turned into a few hours as Natsu slumped onto the filthy pavement after searching through different alleyways for the exit. Sadly, he hadn't found any. _What the hell is with this maze of alleyways? _Peering up, he realized how long he had been here, stuck in this never-ending circle of alleyways.

Shit. It was probably mid-afternoon, judging from the sun's direction."

_I wonder if Happy is searching from the sky for me yet? _Natsu wondered as he came across yet another alleyway which bisected the one he was just in. He was about to skip it and keep walking when a blinding glint of metal caught his attention.

It was a piece of cracked mirror hanging lopsidedly off the grubby wall in the middle of the alleyway. Its surface was smudged with bits of debris clinging onto it as if someone had been trying to clean it with a dirty piece of cloth.

_What the hell?_ Flicking his eyes to the space next to it, he was amazed to see articles of ragged clothing, piled up in a dirty mound. Intrigued, Natsu continued his walk to the end of the usually short alleyway, slowly turning the corner as the passage bent at a turn. Just as he caught glimpse of a large rat-nest like area at the end of the turn, he was attacked.

Without warning, he was suddenly forced backwards into the wall as a flurry of arms lashed out at him, a clanking sound accompanying every jerk, tearing his hand away from his numbing nose. He responded instantly in a defence stance, a frown settling on his sweaty forehead as a pink figure flew at him seemingly from within a cloud of swirling dust.

As the dust settled, a young woman was drawn into sight dressed simply in a maid's uniform. Her short pink hair was loose, her fringe hung lightly, framing her small face while the typical maid's head gear sat in her head. Clinking sounds drew attention to the loose shackles that decorated her wrists as she twirled unnecessarily in front of him as if to finish a pose. She then glared at him. With her mouth set in a firm line, her blue eyes glared menacingly at him as if daring him to come any closer.

Natsu, startled that the attacker was a girl, looked around at his surroundings, finally noticing a deep hole (When was that there…?) which lay next to her as she held out her hand in a 'come at me' gesture. Her legs took on the typical defence stance.

"You cannot proceed any further. My princess won't let you." Her voice was at a comfortable pitch while a sort of possessive emphasis was put on the words 'My Princess' in her speech.

Natsu wasn't deterred in the slightest. "Who are you? Why are you stopping me? And who is this princess?" He yelled at her rather childishly, his hand unconsciously balling into lumps of flame as he tried uselessly to peer behind her.

"You'll have to fight me if you want to proceed."

"Fine. If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" Natsu launched suddenly at her, drawing back his right hand as he sailed swiftly through the short distance between them. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He shouted as he forced his burning fist to reach her. But just before he made contact, she was gone. Disappeared as if into thin air. Natsu stopped abruptly, whipping his entire body around as if he was expecting an attack from behind. There was none. Cursing, Natsu observed, scanning the area for any signs of a pink-haired lady in a maid's outfit. Left. Right. Behind. In front. From above. There was none.

Grinning, he pierced together the clues as he sprinted along the side of the alleyway walls. His shoulder occasionally rubbed against the rough and scarred surface of the plastered wall as he rushed toward the bending corner of the alleyway as it bent into another street. His intent being to force her out of hiding. Smirking in triumph, he peered around the corner.

Expecting the attacker to lash out at him the moment his salmon-pink head popped out, he was awfully surprised when there was no one there. Slumping his posture, Natsu decided against waiting and was about to walk to ahead when a sudden painful tackle to his waist took him completely by surprise as he arched backwards painfully before collapsing heavily onto the floor.

"Ooff…" Grunting in pain, his eyes widened as he saw where it came from: next to him… from the grubby wall. With his mouth gaping open, he picked himself up from the filthy ground of dead cockroaches and thin lines of putrid smelling liquids, watching as the maiden twirled gracefully out of the wall as if it was water. Plaster and concrete rubble sprayed out around her like confetti as she straightened her stance and dusted her skirt.

Natsu was stunned. How could a person just… pop out of a wall..?

Watching in alarm as the maiden took another stance, he hurried to dodge as she seemed to teleport in front of him, attacking with only her fists. Standing up, he avoided her dangerous uppercut before receiving a rather painful punch to the jaw whose force pushed him sprawling down the alleyway, increasing the distance between them. Natsu wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth before taking on his usual attacking position. He eyed her combat techniques warily. A mage? Possibly.

The next few minutes were tense, as both sides exchanged and parried the blows of the other as if in a wild dance before separating again, both sides exhausted and panting for breath.

The maiden's pretty hair was tousled and singed in several places while a large bruise restricted the movements of her arm. Scratches decorated her limbs (she was thrown into the wall a few times) while blood seemed to be gushing out of a reopened wound on her leg, painting her skin in scarlet. Nasty burns took up her entire shoulder-back and lower neck like a disease. Her face, strangely enough, was completely free of scratches or blemishes in contrast to the rest of her body. Only a thin cut ruined the beauty of her face, marking its territory on the right side of her mouth.

Natsu wasn't in any better shape however, was noticeably less damaged than the maiden. Bruises covered his left arm (from deflecting her blows) while some parts of his clothing were stained mildly with clotted blood. Dents and small burns littered themselves over his exposed shoulders caused by the maiden's swinging chains as she attacked him.

Watching her sprint towards him again, though sluggishly, Natsu resorted to the last option and clasped his hands together directly in front of his face while a thick stream of fire cascaded onto the pink-haired maiden. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" Panting in exhaustion, he leaned into the wall, watching as the flames licked at the plastered walls while the middle was consumed in a dark inferno. It was only after a few minutes that the enormous fireball disappeared leaving several toasted cockroaches in its wake. Peering curiously, his heart sank at what he saw. A gaping hole lay charred on the ground in front of him, the body of the maiden nowhere to be seen.

Thinking quickly, Natsu prepared himself for another barrel of flying punches as the maiden rushed at him.

_Doesn't she ever get tired?_ Natsu wondered to himself but he knew deep inside that she was putting up a strong front, to hide her actual pain.

He picked up enough energy to dodge her attacks. He was tired and felt as if he wouldn't be able to dodge anymore. Dodging the flurry of fists and legs, he perked up suddenly at what he saw. Just what he needed the most right now. It was small but…

An opening.

Without further ado, Natsu took advantage of that minor opening, drawing his fists back in order to gain momentum before releasing it with a burst of scorching flames. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" He knew that it was probably the last attack she can take before fainting and she probably knew that too.

The pink-haired maiden froze in surprise; her spine tingled in protest as she tried to avoid the on-coming ball of solid fire coming at her as though in slow motion. She realised it was in vain. Bracing herself, she waited…and waited.

It never came.

Natsu was moments away from victory when a sudden bright blue light caught his eye. Still in the middle of his possible victory, he turned his head a fraction to see a glowing piece of rope struggling to dig its way around his exposed ankle as if to pull him back.

And it did.

With an indignant cry, Natsu was pulled from his goal by his ankle; his punch fell short as he fell heavily onto the pavement, face planted onto the floor while the thin rope retracted itself away from his stinging ankle.

"Virgo!" It was a dull high-pitched voice, raspy as though it hadn't been used in a long time.

Natsu shuffled a bit on the ground as an inward confusion took place in his brain. _Virgo? Isn't that a star symbol thing? Who the hell names their child Virgo nowadays anyway?_

Facing up, Natsu noticed a dark figure for the first time: the figure that had hurdled over to reach the maiden on the other side. A short whip like weapon hung loosely over a single arm as the stranger held the pink-haired maiden in a protective embrace.

As if sensing his gaze, it turned to him, its voice screaming octaves before cracking at the end of its speech. "Stop hurting her!" There were no more sounds after that as her thin voice echoed through the alley.

At this point a harsh wind blew, ruffling Natsu's hair and raising shivers down his spine. The washed out hood of the stranger was blown off in that sudden blast of cold wind as its cloak fluttered angrily.

It wasn't a child, like Natsu had originally thought but a skinny teenage girl with a shock of filthy hair that used to be blond. He cringed slightly as he saw the scattered leaves and debris tangled up in that long mop of dull hair. Patches of dirt and greasy junk seemed to cover her skin causing the thin bony structures of her jaw to be even more prominent. As Natsu stared slightly in disgust, the same set of deep hazel eyes stared into his. The expression of hunger was now replaced by outrage and worry.

Natsu broke the silence with a blunt accusation. "You're that thief… From this morning."

It wasn't a question.

**Thanks for reading! This chapter was really rushed. And yeah... i'm making up the names of the towns and stuff cause i didn't want to use Fairy Tail's anymore- feel like i'm copying too much.**

**Err... to be honest, i actually have no planning and i am just writing with the flow so i hope you don't mind if some things doesn't add up with the last few chapters. **

**Another thing: This story is going too fast right? I'm asking this because someone told me that this story is going too fast and i kinda need some tips on how to not make the story go too fast. So PLEASE can you post some tips in the reviews so i can make this story better.**

**If there's any questions, feel free to ask :)**

** ONE MORE: Could you guys please review and tell me some stuff i need to change or some stuff that i need to improve on. You don't have to cover up whatever you're thinking with nice words and just basically say what's on your mind. I won't get offended. :)**

**So... PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW -i hope i'm not asking for too much!**


	5. A Friend To Keep

**A/N DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS i own the plot though :)**

**I updated! Thanks for the reviews, i really appreciate it!**

**Editor/s: Pecha Pichu, Fatkitty**

**Here's another long chapter: Chapter 5. Happy reading :D**

Chapter 5- A new friend?

_It wasn't a child, like Natsu had originally thought but a skinny teenage girl with a shock of filthy hair that used to be blonde. He cringed slightly as he saw the scattered leaves and debris tangled up in that long mop of dull hair. Patches of dirt and greasy junk seemed to cover her skin causing the thin bony structures of her jaw to be even more prominent. As Natsu stared slightly in disgust, the same set of deep hazel eyes stared into his. The expression of hunger was now replaced by outrage and worry._

_Natsu broke the silence with a blunt accusation. "You're that thief… from this morning."_

_It wasn't a question._

There was a still silence as both sides seemed to judge the other, waiting for the other to make the first move. A strong gale washed over them, causing small dust storms to form in their midst.

He stared, eyes following her dirt-crusted strands which lifted stiffly in the wind, before resting on her tattered coat and hood. Natsu frowned as he took notice of it. Instead of the thick, matted overcoat that he thought she was wearing, it was actually a thin piece of cloth, stained with dirt that was wrapped around her with a grimy rag fashioned into a make-shift hood. Rips and small tears decorated the frayed edges while small patches of muck dotted the clothing like spots on a leopard.

He thought back to the alley with the dirty pile of clothing and the large nest-like area. His heart sank as he realised why they would be like this. _They have nowhere to live, nothing to eat. _He concluded. Yet why is the pink-haired girl dressed better than the other? Why would she seem healthier than the figure standing in front of him?

Natsu jerked his eyes back to her grimy face when he noticed movement, watching closely as the stranger seemed to exchange words with the pink-haired maid behind her. The whispers were so soft that even Natsu, with his sensitive hearing, had to strain slightly in order to catch the words.

"Virgo. Go back." She whispered while Natsu frowned in confusion. _Go back? Where? They're against a wall._

Virgo's eyes seemed to widen in fury as she rasped back, her entire body weight still leaning onto the blonde. "No. I can still fight. Let me fight for you. You haven't even taken those pills yet. You're too weak. I'll…" Her feeble voice drifted off as soft coughs took over her small frame, causing her shackles to scrape against the figure's thin arms.

"No. You're the one that's bleeding. You're the one that's weak. " A tone of determination was set into the next sentence as the blonde hurried to hold Virgo in a more comfortable position. "You have to go back. You need to heal. Don't worry I'll be fine." Her hazel eyes seemed to soften at Virgo as if there was no one there except for them. A wistful look drifted onto her grimy face.

_This look._ Natsu recognised this scene immediately and felt guilt consume him, eating away at his consciousness, as he watched her say, possibly the last words that the pink-head would ever hear. This… reminded him of something… A sense of deja-vu washed over him as he observed that scene, when a head of white shoved its way into his mind, causing him to remember. To remember a precious friend that was torn from him.

_Lisanna._

Tears seemed to fill the back of his eyes but he refused to cry. He had told himself that he would never cry… because Lisanna wouldn't have wanted him to cry. Blinking rapidly in alarm, he felt his eyes moisten. As he struggled, a sudden loud noise caught his attention.

Forgetting the un-shed tears at the back of his eyes, he was drawn back into reality as a raucous grinding noise directed his attention to the wall directly behind the two girls. He was on alert at once, as the part of grubby wall above the girls began to crumble, letting the loose bricks and plaster fall as if in slow motion. He realised it was the wall which Virgo had slammed into from the fight earlier.

He instantly reacted, his arm raised as if to stop the wall from collapsing onto them. Only to be stopped by the look of alarm that flew across the blonde's face. Watching in astonishment, he took notice of the shock on the blonde's face and the way she swiftly changed her stance in a flash. Instead of the position they were in before, the blonde now hovered over the pink-haired girl, shielding her as the loose bricks fell heavily against her shoulders, protecting the already injured maiden from further harm.

"Princess!" The shrill shriek that cut through that moment, rung harshly in his ears as he watched the pink-haired maiden hopelessly push against the girl shielding her, trying in vain to push her out of the way.

Shoving back, the stranger winced at every piece of rubble that fell onto her back while splatters of scarlet blossomed wherever it was struck. She then collapsed to her knees along with her friend. Dust settled around them while her blood ran down her back, staining her coat.

As quick as the disaster had come, it was gone; the only evidence left were the blood stains on her back and the loose pieces of rubble lying on the pavement.

"Prin-"

"I-I'm fine." She choked out shakily, patting the maiden's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

Natsu froze, his arm still lifted halfway from when he feared for their lives before letting his arm drop uselessly to his side once again. Still eavesdropping to their conversation, he slumped his shoulders while shivers of numbing pain ran up his arms from his last battle. Ignoring it, he paid attention to her next words.

"See you later, Virgo." Her cracked voice was almost sweet as the dust still swirled around them. The girl then smiled sadly as she took out a key-like object from the folds of her coat, its gold luminance glinting in the dim lighting.

"No I-"

"Forced gate closure!" The stranger then lifted the key high into the air, yelling out the last word in a scream.

Natsu squinted, trying to see clearly through the thick layers of swirling dust surrounding the two as he wished for them to stared intently, as a soft glow seemed to echo from the depths of the dust. _A procedure for a funeral or something_? Natsu was lost as he became alert, staring wide-eyed at the lady behind the girl whom was now glowing in a blinding light. Within seconds she was… gone, just as the dust settled. Disappeared as if into thin air. Natsu's mouth was gaped open, eyes searching frantically around the area where the pink-haired girl disappeared. There was nothing.

Turning his shocked gaze back to the lost expression of the stranger, he garbled with his words. "W-what happened?" _Did I kill her?_

She ignored him. Instead, she directed a look of hatred towards him, her mouth in a firm line.

His heart sank._ I knew it. I had killed her._

He expected her to fly into a rage, like he did when his best friend died. Instead, she hissed at him as she held out her glowing whip in a defence stance. Flashes of anger crossed her hazel eyes while her bony chin stuck out. "Why did you attack her? She was doing nothing wrong!" At her last syllable, she flung her glowing whip at him, her arms stretching until the sleeves rolled back, and revealing thin, scrawny joints as she tried to attack her enemy. Drops of blood dripped from her coat to the dusty pavement as she jumped to a better position.

"H-hey-" His sentence was cut as he was forced to dodge. Natsu swiftly rolled out of the way as the glowing rope seemed to lengthen, crashing into the wall behind him.

_Shit._ He cursed as a wound above his knee re-opened. Before swinging to his feet, he was forced to duck again as the rope swung heavily above his head, missing its target by a foot and cracking harshly, leaving a deep gorge in the pavement a few metres away.

He attempted to staunch the bleeding in his leg with his hand as the whip retracted, causing a bloody mess on his on his hand. Eyes widening, he dodged yet again as the whip swung at him with the force of a mini tornado. He knew he couldn't attack at long distance, so he needed a plan to get close. Thinking quickly, he began calculating the time between her swings and the time it took for the whip to retract.

It was exactly two seconds.

As the whip retracted again, Natsu took his chance. He stood up and sprinted towards the stranger, panting slightly. The gap slowly closed as he approached when the whip came at him again. As he panicked, the radiant piece of rope suddenly disappeared. _I'm going to make it._ A brief smile crossed his face as he drew his fist back when there was only a metre gap between them. He was about to contact his fist to her face when he was drawn back again. Twisting his head to the source of his pain, he noticed in midfall, that the same tendril of blue light was curled tightly around his exposed ankle. Turning back to the face of his enemy, her face was unreadable, staring at his fall with a glassy expression.

He fell heavily onto the pavement, blood seeping out through newly made cuts on his arms. Through his hazy vision of pain and numbness, he made out the blue glow of the weapon, aiming for him. _Shit. I spent too much energy on the last fight. _He forced his heavy arms to block the on-coming attack while a sudden thought crossed his mind. _I might die._

He waited for the pain… and the numbing blackness.

Through his hazy vision, the rope suddenly slacked, and fell to the pavement like a puppet without strings. _Huh?_ Looking up at the stranger, Natsu was extremely surprised to see her collapsed onto the pavement, her bundled figure twitching slightly as she lay there. Drops of blood decorated the area around her. Peering curiously at her, Natsu forced himself to get up, and walk slowly towards her, closing the gap between them as he warily approached, staggering as he tried to regain his balance.

She was just lying there. Like a fallen scarecrow as her filthy strands of hair fell around her head like a halo. Her coat was clotted with small droplets of blood while her sunken gaps in her face was even more pronounced.

_She looks like she hasn't eaten for days._ Natsu cautiously approached her before tugging the whip gently out of her open hand. Crouching beside the fallen figure, he startled when her eyes flashed open, hazel clashing with black as her defeated expression, mixed with the look of hunger stared boldly at him.

"Go on. Kill me." Her voice was forced while her eyes screamed in pain.

Natsu didn't reply. Instead he focused his gaze at the small bug crawling its way out of her hair, determined not to the look at the helpless girl sprawled out on the pavement.

Blinking, the girl's defeated expression transformed to confusion when she realised that he wasn't going to move or attack but just staring out to nothingness.

"A-aren't you gonna kill me now? Now that I'm weak and defenceless?" Her voice rasped out softly while her face frowned in confusion.

Natsu seemed to debate this sentence in his head. "Nah. It wouldn't be fair to attack a defenceless person. Thief or not." His low voice adapted to a playful sort of tone as the truthfulness of this statement reflected in his eyes.

"W-why? What if I'm actually really evil and will kill you the moment I regain strength?"

"You won't."

"And why not? How can you trust me? I'm just a person you just met, not to mention that I tried to attack you."

Natsu contemplated this for a while as his mind flashed back to when the stranger had selflessly protected her friend at the risk of her own health. "Because I believe that no person who would risk their life for their friend is truly evil."

"But I tried to attack you."

"I understand. It was for your friend."

There was a short silence as she accepted his conclusion. "…You're a nice person." Her facial features relaxed to a dreamy gaze to the skies as she concluded their short conversation.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. The stranger lay on the pavement, her glassy eyes wide open as she tried to regain strength. Her sunken face was caked with dirt and grease while her exposed limbs were thin, the bony features more pronounced as a few rays of dull sunlight managed to find themselves into the alley. As she stared glassily to the skies above, Natsu crouched next to her body, his head bowed to the ground as he waited for any signs of reaction. He ignored the numbness that was building up in his legs. He ignored the prickling sensation from his wounds… just to keep the peaceful silence in the atmosphere when they had come to a silent truce. He didn't dare move.

Other than the occasional scuffles of shuffling in the shadows, it was only after a few minutes that a loud sound disrupted the peacefulness.

Growwwwl

Natsu's ears perked up at the sound, shifting to a standing position in order to detect the origin. Frowning, he tried to detect any new scents. _Nothing. But I swore I heard something. _

Growwwwl

There it was again. Resting his eyes on the dusty face of the girl in front of him, the look of understanding set in as he noticed that her eyes were no longer glassy, but full of embarrassment while a pink flush was noticeable even under the layers of muck caking her cheeks. He stifled a snigger as he realised the major reason why she couldn't fight. It wasn't that she was injured.

She was hungry.

_Yeah she probably hasn't eaten for days._ He concluded. Natsu studied her thin structure and was about to offer some food out of his bag when she managed to pull herself into a sitting position.

"O-oi" She turned her head away as she spoke. "If you're gonna help me then get the bottle of pills out of my pocket." Her hand was raised feebly as one slim finger pointed at a fold along the side of her front.

His eyes squinted in confusion yet again. _Pills? Why would you need them?_ Without hesitation, he slid his hand awkwardly into the slimy pocket, his fingers touching a smooth glass bottle. Holding it out, he rested it into her waiting hands, watching carefully as she strained to opened the bottle with her bony fingers and swallow a pill.

Blinking curiously, Natsu stared intently at the bottle wondering for a moment where she would have gained such an expensive looking object. It was quite new, he noted. Wondering what the pills were for, his eyes caught sight of a red piece of paper which was taped to one side.

Refill pills, it said.

Natsu scanned through once before blinking in understanding. Refill pills were considered a sort of magic, for mages and civilians alike as the person who swallowed the pill wouldn't have to eat or drink for a week as it would effectively provide the person with the correct amount of nutrients and essentials. However, this kind of pill is only sold in the markets once a year causing it to be sold at an extremely high price.

_She probably stole it this morning._ With this thought in mind, he then flicked his attention back to the stranger, who seemed completely re-energised compared to before. Her face lost the sunken look while her cheeks were a soft rosy glow. Her limbs had also lost the skinny structure and the bones were less pronounced. Her eyes sparkled even as she tried to wipe the excess blood off her back and staunch her wounds.

Natsu blinked once in approval. _Wow. It really is effective._ He thought as he took notice. Her figure wasn't of a scrawny child's anymore but more of a curvy teenager while her face became full. Even under all the dirt and filth, she was just a normal teenager.

Wincing slightly, she lifted herself from the dirty pavement.

Natsu watched suspiciously at her as she fumbled around for her weapon, which he put into her open hands. Standing to her full length, she stared once before flashing to her attack stance once again, her whip held tightly in her small hands. Determination was set in her eyes.

Natsu, upon seeing the stance, back-tracked immediately, stepping a few metres away from her despite his injuries. Disheartened, he then took on his defence stance. He understood and accepted why she would fight. It would be for her friend… whom he killed. He shook his head in disappointment. Of course she wouldn't just let him go. What was he thinking? That he could expect her to let him go after he killed her friend? One thought crept into his mind as he stared at her with guilt-ridden eyes. _I know how that feels. I'm sorry._

A familiar yet different voice suddenly cut thorough the silence.

"I need some answers!" The stranger barked out, her voice seemingly to be richer after the pill. It was a high–pitched yet sweet voice, layered with deep authority. "Tell me the truth and I won't hurt you."

"W-what?" Snapping out of his self-guilt, he was shocked to see that she wasn't trying to attack him but was just standing in her pose.

She continued, ignoring his shock, "One. Why did you attack her?"

_Her…?_ "She attacked me first." He couldn't stop the words from forming as they just tumbled out.

The stranger nodded her head of stiff strands in understanding before proceeding to the next question. "Two, why were you here in the first place?"

"I was trying to find a thief and I got lost."

"Last, why did you help me?"

"I don't believe that you're a bad person."

She glanced at him for a while as if judging him. The two sides stood in silence in a staring competition before the blonde broke her gaze after she saw the raw honesty reflected in them. Slowly, she lowered her weapon before proceeding to walk right past him, her piece of tattered coat, stained with clotted blood swished elegantly while a soft grumble was heard. "I'll trust you for now."

Natsau released the breath he didn't know he was holding.

A sudden small smile then appeared briefly on her face as her tone changed completely. "Sorry for the accusations but I needed to be sure. Yeah, anyways thanks for helping me. I thought I was gonna die from hunger." Turning her head to face him briefly, her face was shining. "C'mon. You're lost right? I'll show you the way out."

Natsu's mouth gaped open at her sudden mood-change. "B-but what about your friend?"

"Virgo? Oh don't worry, I'm sure she'll forgive you." She resumed her brisk walk towards the end of the alley.

"No no. I meant that I… erm… killed your friend. Aren't you mad at me for that?" He bowed his head down in shame as he followed after her.

"Kill? Aah. Don't worry. As much as I dislike you for hurting her, I won't be mad at someone who was forced to attack. But seriously, don't worry cause Virgo's immortal." She kicked a dead cockroach aside.

Natsu was confused, thinking over at her last sentence. _Immortal _"Wait, what do you mean by immortal?" He spoke up again.

"Yeah she's my spirit so she's immortal. Well except if she's forced to live in the human world, and then she'll die.

"What happened to her?" Natsu said, remembering the blinding light from before.

"Oh that? I just sent her back to the spirit world."

They walked in silence, every now and then encountering a number of dead mice and scampering rodents.

"Hey… You said 'My Spirit'…so you're a mage?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I'm a Celestial Mage." She took one look at his puzzled expression before putting her hood up. "You never heard of one before? A celestial wizard could call spirits into the human world in order to fulfil their needs."

_Aaah that explains it._ "Cool. Well, I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer." He was amazed at how easily he could talk to her. Almost as though he hadn't just fought two people and gained a number of cuts and bruises that still sent jerks of numbing pain up his shoulders.

"Dragon Slayer? I heard about them before. I think people said that they are rumoured to be powerful enough to be able to defeat a full grown dragon." They took a right turn.

_Geez this place really is like a maze._ "Yeah. Its pretty cool." Silence fell as a question poked at Natsu's curiosity. "Hey… why do you steal when you have your spirits? Can't you do small jobs to earn money?"

There was no answer. Puzzled, Natsu flicked his eyes over to where the stranger was, pacing next to him. Her smudged face was unseen while a strand of blonde hair peeked out from the gaps. "I… I can't do jobs 'cause no one would hire me. They would say… that I am too ugly and dirty that I might carry a disease." She paused. "You probably figured out that I don't have a home… well…I live alone with my spirits. Honestly, I don't even know why I'm telling you this but I don't steal because I want to. I just need the essentials to stay alive." Another pause. "I think I was abandoned you know? I just woke up one day with no memories at all. And people are afraid of me. Because they know I'm a wizard. So they are afraid. So afraid that… no one even lives around me anymore."

He thought he heard a small sob in that voice but it was probably just his imagination. _No wonder there were no one around._ Natsu kept his head bowed as if in tribute when a sudden thought crossed his mind. _A brilliant plan,_ he thought. Raising his head, he faced her with a large grin. "Hey. You wouldn't mind leaving this place right?"

She nodded her head mutely. A slight suspicion tugged at her consciousness.

"Join me." They crossed another bend.

"H-huh?" She almost tripped.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her strange behaviour. "Join me in my journey. You won't be alone anymore. And you could always help us earn more money."

"W-what kind of journey?" Her voice was soft with curiosity while her head still faced the ground as she walked, refusing to face the pink-haired man next to her.

"A promise that I made to my best friend. To find the most beautiful woman in the country. And to ask her hand in marriage." He looked to the skies above, watching the clouds almost lazily as he paced beside her.

There was an awkward silence. "Y-you want to marry m-me?"

"Huh?"

"Y-you said…"

Natsu thought back to what he said and almost slapped his palm to his head. "A-ah I don't mean it like that. I mean if you want to join me in finding her. Not that you're not pretty or anything but I want you to come along as a friend."

"O-oh I understand." Her head was bowed, her face was unseen.

"So do you want to join?"

Another awkward pause. "Are you sure you want me to join? I'm so ugly. Why would you ask me?"

"You're not ugly. Just unclean. I'm sure you're very pretty under all the layers of dirt. Besides, I like your personality."

"What if I carry a disease?"

"If you carried one, I would have caught it by now."

She smiled at his bluntness. "Okay… I guess. I have nothing else to do with my life anyways-"

"Don't say that!" His voice echoed while birds fluttered away at his loud outburst.

The teenager jerked up, startled.

"Don't say that." He repeated. "Because all lives are important. They should all be treated with the highest value, so don't you dare say anything like that. Don't think of your life as something so meagre."

Surprised at his out-burst, the stranger felt a genuine smile cross her face. _He cared._ It was the first time that someone other than her spirits cared for her despite her appearance. She felt a warm feeling settle in her chest while a wide smile rested comfortably on her face. It was a while since she smiled like that… and it was all thanks to the teenager walking next to her. Still smiling widely, her next words were like a dream. "Ok, I'd love to."

"Ok then. We're probably gonna set out tomorrow morning now since it's getting late now." He rubbed his bloodied hair sheepishly as he noticed the night rolling after the sun. "We'll be walking, is that okay? Cause I can't ride vehicles."

"Mmm." The blonde girl just nodded her head at random intervals while jotting down the information mentally into her head.

"We'll be heading out on the Hanna Trail..? I think it's called, and then we'll walk to the nearest town which is Mazesan Town. Okay?"

"Yeah sure." Her face was split into a wide grin as she was elated on the inside knowing that she was accepted for one of the first times in her life.

"You will come right? You won't ditch me halfway?" Natsu looked questioningly at her.

"Haha. Don't worry, I'll definitely be there."

Natsu then turned around, his face in a comical seriousness. "Pinkie promise?"

"Huh" _What the hell is a pinkie promise?_ She directed her look of confusion at his pinkie, which he stuck out before her.

"A pinky promise." Natsu said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You wrap your pinkie around like this and promise. Then you're not supposed to break that promise." He took her dirty pinkie with his large hands and wrapped it around his own. "So pinkie promise… that you will definitely be there."

"I'll be there." She echoed, feeling a jolt of elation.

Fading sunlight finally fell onto the two of them as they stepped out of the last alleyway. Stopping at the entrance, a sudden thought flew into the girl's mind as she turned to face him. "Oy. I forgot to ask for your name."

"Natsu Dragneel. "

"Oh. Mine is Lucy."

"Just Lucy?"

"Yeah… I don't remember my last name." Her head was bowed once again.

"Okay! Well let's get going Lu-" Natsu turned to face forward again only to be kicked squarely in the chest, sending him flying into a nearby wall. He groaned as pain consumed his back.

"FLAMEBRAIN!" Natsu turned his head groggily to the source of the racket. "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME? DID YOU REALISE THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO SET OUT **TODAY**? NOW BECAUSE OF YOUR IDIOCY WE HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL TOMMORROW!" Gray took a deep breath, relieved to get the stress out of his system.

Dazed, Natsu managed to make out the mess of dark hair and a blue cat through the haziness. "Gray, Happy. You found me." He blinked rapidly to clear his vision before remembering his new friend. "Oh, can we rent a larger room at the hotel? I found a new friend. She's-" He popped himself out of the human-shaped hole in the wall before turning around to indicate Lucy… who was not there. "Hey, where did she go?"

"Maybe you were dreaming. You probably just fell asleep somewhere while walking." Gray then took a look at Natsu's numerous cuts and scratches. "And did you get into a fight without me?"

"Shut it Icehead. I was not dreaming. And she did agree to join us."_ I hope she didn't ditch me._

"Are you really s-"

The blue exceed then spoke up suddenly, effectively destroying their banter. "Natsu, we need to dress your wounds and I want to have fish so can we go back to the hotel already?"

"Fine, fine. Let's go." Natsu took one last look at the entrance way of the alley, somehow knowing that the girl was still there. He then put his hand up in an awkward wave just before Gray started dragging him by his back collar. Nodding firmly to himself, he tried to keep up his failing walk, smiling that toothy-grin, knowing that he made another new friend. A light feeling settled in his stomach. He knew she would come. _She will definitely come. _

A wide grin consumed his face. _I'll just let him drag me. Just this once. _With that thought lingering in his mind, he dropped all resistance, putting all weight onto the dark-haired ice mage, wincing slightly at the loud shout of frustration that came with it.

"DAMN SQUINTY-EYES, WALK BY YOURSELF!"

**Is it ok? I spent AGES uploading it cause my computer stuffed up :( **

**Anyways PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW and tell me how this story is going. Is it going too fast? Is it too long-winded? i'm just typing from my imagination so i won't know. **

**Anyways i'll update next week. Same day, same time... hopefully :)**


	6. Hanna Trail

**A/N DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS i own plot though.**

**I have to say, thank you all people that reviewed for the last chapter! I really appreciate it all especially the tips and opinions of how this story was going :)**

**To noegenesis: Thanks for the advice! I tried following it so this chapter is more of a feeling kinda like chapter and i have tried to expand on their feelings. Long-winded? I definitely think so!**

**To absolutefiction: Thanks for your opinion on the pace. It helped a lot!**

**Editors: Pecha Pichu and FatKitty(no thanks to your useless comments. jks)**

**Okay, this chapter is really long. Happy reading!**

Chapter 6- Hanna Trail

It was early morning. Laflower Town's gates shone dimly in the distance while three figures sat on the sandy ground as dark greenery surrounded the pathway in front of them. On the sandy pathway, a small wooden sign hung lopsidedly in mid-air, its arrow pointing down the shady path while soft rays of the rising sun rested its gaze onto it, causing shadows to leak into its gaps.

Hanna Trail, it said.

Three figures were waiting at the start of the Hanna Trail, a trail said to lead directly to Mazesan Town. It was only after a little while that the smallest figure raised his head to the pink-haired man pacing slowly around him.

"Hey, hey Natsu, is she really gonna come?"

Natsu jerked out of his thoughts as he stopped his pacing before looking down to the blue cat sitting forlornly in the middle of the sandy pathway.

The Exceed continued to speak. "We've been waiting for a long time now, is she gonna come or not?"

"Yeah… she will come… I'm sure she will." Natsu answered determinedly as if he was trying to convince himself, while his eyes drifted unconsciously to the lush grasslands that lay ahead of them.

His eyes brushed past the shady forests that lay out before him before craning his head eagerly towards the town again, hoping to see a hooded figure dashing out of the town's wide steel gates towards them. There was no one. He shook his pink-head in disappointment while a small thought kept nagging him at the back of his mind. What if she doesn't come? What if they were wasting time for nothing?

A loud voice snapped him out of his thoughts yet again. "Oi Flamebrain." Natsu snapped his head towards the dark-haired mage. "Like Happy said, is she really gonna come?" Gray paused at the end of his question, as if he was expecting Natsu to answer. He continued when no answer was made. "Cause we really can't afford to spend more time dawdling around here if we want to make it to Mazesan Town before evening. I told you already. It's safer to travel by day." His eyes stared intently at Natsu's, ignoring the loud bird chirps in the background.

"Just give her another five minutes. She'll definitely come." His tone emphasised on the last phrase while his eyes stared determinedly at the large rusty gates that guarded the town in the distance.

"Fine." Gray glance warily at the trail, which was almost encased by the dark forests looming on both sides as the memory of last night came to his mind.

_They had gone back to where Maria Coopelt and her husband lived to stay for the night when the cheap hotel they had been living in for the past week was apparently booked out. Maria, with her wispy white hair and wrinkled smile had welcomed them in like grandchildren while Natsu and Gray suffered through her husband's stony glare for the whole evening. Happy, however, remained oblivious, eating away at his fish. _

_It was just as they got to the guest room that Gray decided to confirm with Natsu on where they going and how they were getting there._

"_Hey. So this girl called Lucy is joining us?" Gray lay on the bed, for once fully clothed._

"_Yeah. She's really nice." Natsu replied while Happy paid attention to the conversation, his ears alert._

"_Natsu…" Gray's face became serious. "You hardly know that girl. She could be using us."_

"_No. I'm sure she's not."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Are you sure?"_

_Natsu turned to him. "Stop asking these questions. Of course she won't back stab us or something. Besides, she's a mage so she should be able to help us earn more money."_

_Gray looked unconvinced. "Fine. But what is she like?"_

"_Well… She can fight, she's kind-hearted, cares for her friends and is willing to protect her friends." He thought for a moment. "And she has pretty eyes", he added as an afterthought._

_Silence._

"_So we __**are**__ going to set out tomorrow morning. Right?" _

_Natsu turned around in surprise of the sudden change of topic. "Yeah."_

_Gray continued. "But some people say that the Hanna trail is a really dodgy place."_

"_Really?"_

"_It's just some rumours that I heard around the village but they said that most people that go through it would always arrive at the next town drained. Almost like the walking dead." He cringed slightly as a grotesque image formed in his mind. "Are we still taking it?"_

"_What other choice do we have? I absolutely refuse to take the train and the shortest way to the next town is the Hanna Trail. Other ways would take almost three days while the trail would take only half a day."_

"_The train isn't that bad-"_

"_You can take the train then. Happy and I will walk."_

_Gray scowled at his stubbornness as he gave up the argument. "Fine. Just saying, I'll abandon you when you turn into a zombie."_

"_Keep dreaming, Slanty-eyes. It's not gonna happ-"_

_A loud knock on the door startled the two as it swung open to reveal Maria in an oversized dress. She smoothed out her dress as she made her way into the room carrying a plate of biscuits. Placing the plate of biscuits onto one of the bedside tables, she then sat, cross-legged on the carpeted floor. _

_Gray and Natsu stared confusedly at her while she spoke._

"_I've brought you three some biscuits that I baked a while ago. Please enjoy them." She indicated politely to the plate of biscuits on the table._

"_Thanks Obaa-san!" Natsu leapt off his bed to the biscuits while Gray sat up, gazing questionably at the old lady making herself comfortable on the blue carpet._

_Smiling gently under his gaze, the old lady spoke, her voice radiating authority around the room. "I need to tell you youngsters a little something."_

_Natsu paused in mid-bite to hear her speech while Gray just nodded his head in consent._

"_I can't help but over-hear you two discussing plans for tomorrow, but I must advise you. Do not take the Hanna Trail."_

"_Huh? Why not?" Wiping the crumbs from his mouth, Natsu stared confusedly at the old lady sitting in front of him._

"_It is too dangerous. Many travellers would walk onto the path and disappear for days before coming out drained, their faces would have no life-"_

"_That's what Gray said."_

_Maria glared at Natsu briefly for interrupting her before delving back into her explanation. "As I was saying, the travellers would have no life. Some people never came out at all for the forest that surrounds that path is said to be cursed for a century-"_

"_Cursed?" It was Gray this time that interrupted._

_The lady sent a glare to his way, sick of the interruptions before resuming. "Yes. Cursed. There is a legend that originated from that pathway." She took a deep breath before continuing. "A long time ago, there was a powerful mage who fell in love with a beautiful maiden, the fairest in the land. She loved him as well. But one day, people started coming after her for some reason. To protect her, the powerful mage then cut off half his life span to bind his lover to a forest. He then left, promising her that she will be safe and that he would come back. He never came._

_Years passed, the mage never returned. The lover then wept with misery for four years, her soul aching. Then one day she decided to burn the forest, with hopes of releasing herself to find the mage that bound her to the forest. To find him and to extract her revenge against him. _

_It failed._

_The forest burnt but it rebuilt itself by taking away a chunk of her soul. It is said that she carries a burn that covers almost half of her entire face. But because the forest took away a part of her soul, she is said to remain eternal, forever tied to the forest. She grieved for days. For her breaking heart, her simmering hatred and her stolen beauty, she wished to die. But she can't because a part of her soul was within the forest itself. So she thought of to replace her piece of her soul in the forest with other souls._

_So because of that, whenever someone would walk into the forest, she would take away a bit of their soul. But only a tiny bit for she kind-hearted enough not to take away a person's life. But there's another strange thing. She would only attack males but the legend never stated why." Maria finished off up a dreary sigh. " And that forest is the forest which the Hanna trail runs through. That's why I'm saying that you'll be in danger."_

"_Ahh don't worry. It's just a legend. We'll be careful." Natsu stood up and guided the old lady to the door._

"_B-but-"_

"_We'll be going to sleep now. See you in the morning!" Natsu smiled widely as he pushed the old lady gently out of the room._

Gray lifted some stray hair away from his eyes as he stared at the sandy path that twisted into the shambles of looming trees and dark canopies. It was eerie, while a dark aura radiated off it. There was a dark feeling in his gut. He didn't like this. Not one bit.

_A legend huh? Seems pretty real to me._

Taking his eyes off the haunting image, his eyes were drawn back to Natsu.

Gray couldn't help but feel a small smile tug at his lips as he stared at Natsu's determination. It was a while since he had seen Natsu put so much trust in one person, truly proving that Natsu was back to his old self. Ever since Lisanna died, his rival was a dead empty shell, forever blaming himself for the death of his best friend. He had shut himself up in his house, only ever coming out for new supplies and patrol sessions. And every day of the long two years, Natsu wore a dead expression, an expression of grim sadness.

Gray remembered the loss of his rival during the two years but he was truly glad that Natsu decided to become cheerful again. Gray never knew the reason why Natsu suddenly changed. Was it that he finally forgave himself? Was it that he just decided to forget? Maybe he thought that fulfilling his promise was a compensation for what he did? Gray shook his head. _No, that's not it. _Regardless of Natsu's reasons, Gray was determined to help him achieve his goal, just so his best friend could truly become his old self again, not just a shell of his old self. Even if that meant having to leave something behind… A young lady with curly blue hair slid instantly into his mind.

_Juvia…_

There wasn't a day which he didn't think of her. He wondered what she would be doing now… Tracking him down? He smiled a grim smile as predictable thoughts of what she might be doing entered his mind. Demanding the master for his location… pestering the train conductor, asking where he went… Day-dreaming about the possibilities that he had eloped with Natsu… He snorted at the last possibility. _Typical Juvia. _

His smile suddenly dropped while a sickening feeling clouded his stomach as the next possibility presented itself into his mind. _Maybe she would be crying alone in a corner, hoping no one would notice. _Gray stopped his pacing before lowering himself onto the flat rock jutting out of the ground. Guilt ate at him as he tried to erase this possibility from his mind. There was no doubt, he missed her already.

As he pictured her face in his mind, other faces came forward, adding to the guilt that was already devouring him from the inside. _Mirajane… Elfman… Lyon… Sherry… _

_But I'll go back anyways. It's not like I'll leave forever. _He reasoned silently to himself, trying to erase the guilt that ate away at him.

Natsu smirked quietly as Gray unconsciously took off his shirt, leaving his chest bare. _He'll never change. _He snorted inwardly, imagining Gray's reaction later in the day when he realises that he half-naked. He took another brief glance at the gates before settling his mind on his own worries.

_When is she coming?_ Natsu paced another full circle before asking himself one of the main questions that had been nagging at him the whole day. Why did he ask her to join them? His mouth lay in a firm line as he contemplated his answer. _It seemed like a pretty good idea yesterday but now… _His heart sank as he realised the raw truth. He hardly knew her. She was just a beggar on the streets who happened to be a mage, who happened to bump into him. He paused briefly, contemplating the information that he just processed. Can he trust her?

But something had motivated him to ask her that question. Was it pity? Was it guilt? Or was it because that he knew that Lisanna would be happy to know that he made a new friend? _A friend he hardly knows…_

_But a friend is still a friend. _He reasoned. Driving the confusion to the back of his mind, he forced a smile on his face. _Oh well, what's done is done. I'm sure she'll fit right in. _The fake smile on his face became real as he finalised his decisions and the wind blew warmly as if agreeing with him.

Natsu forced his head over to the wide gates again, hoping for a hooded figure to come rushing out. Seeing none, he sighed again while his gaze wandered over to where Gray sat with his head in his hands. He then remembered something.

A sudden exasperated snort escaped from his lips as the sense of deja vu washed over him. He rolled his eyes, ignoring the weird looks that Gray and Happy were giving him as the single thought entered his mind. Checking the time, he raised an eyebrow in amusement. 8:30am. _Don't tell me… She's late._ He smiled warmly at this conclusion remembering how Gray almost missed the train. _Maybe she'll coming sliding out with an alarm clock as well._ He grinned wider as the warm wind ruffled his pink hair.

_I'm sure. She'll fit right in._

….

The alleyways were as dark as usual as the high walls prevented most of the early sun rays from passing through to the ground. Across from these high walls, a mass of dull bricks that used to be a wall lay crumpled on the filthy pavement, scattering its debris across the ground. Large scorch marks littered the area while deep cracks embedded themselves into the hard pavement showing the evidence of a recent battle. It was quiet, dreary almost, while the rotting stench of carcasses still lingered in the air. A small glint of reflected light blinked as the cool breeze blew the mirror astray.

A grubby face reflected from the mirror. Her hair was a tangled mess while grimy cheeks dulled her beauty. Hesitantly, she pulled her fingers through her tangled hair, dragging out bits of debris and a large bug every now and then. After satisfying herself with the look, she raised a ragged piece of cloth in an attempt to wipe the grime off her skin. It did nothing except sink it deeper into her skin.

After smoothing out her hood, the figure raised her head towards the mirror before reaching for it with her grubby hands. Her fingernails, filled with grease and black dirt, scraped the rugged edges slightly as she took the large mirror shard off the wall of the alleyways. Wiping the surface messily with her tattered sleeves, she then placed it carefully into a travel bag that she stole from the magic markets yesterday. A small smile slid onto her face as she stared down wistfully onto the brown bag.

It wasn't a normal brown bag. Of course anything from the magic markets weren't normal. It was a small tattered side bag, its edges frayed as if it had been tossed onto the ground carelessly for years while its surface was rugged. Its appearance was of something very poor, its reason being to divert the attention of robbers and thieves. This bag wasn't ordinary. It was made with magic. Despite the rough and ragged appearance, its durability was of a dragon's scale. The special ability of this bag was that it was able to store numerous things many times its size and volume. Only a regular client to the markets would be able to spot this ragged treasure in the midst of others.

Walking towards the grimy pile of cloth, she sat down cross-legged in front of it as she slowly dragged the pieces of clothing from the pile to place into her bag. A heavy sigh fell from her lips as she remembered the events that took place just the day before. Was it all really just a dream? Or will she be finally getting out of this hellhole?

Lucy's feelings were clouded, mixed in turmoil as if there was a huge battle going on deep within her heart. Elation, sadness, loneliness, awkwardness, guilt, fear… All these emotions seemed to mix in together making it hard to discern certain emotions properly. But there was one emotion that shone through. Elation…

A wide smile consumed her face as she recognised this emotion. If her throat wasn't so dry, she would almost be laughing in joy. Joy to leave this hellhole of a town. Her hazel orbs glittered on her muddy face, while her smile was so wide that it almost stretched from ear to ear. She was just so happy to be accepted by a stranger despite her appearance.

_A stranger…_ The words echoed in her mind. _That's right. I barely know him…_ All she knew about him was that he was a nice person who would give second chances. Her wide smile faded to a grim line as this piece of truth stabbed at her.

Heck, she doesn't even remember his face. All she remembered of his brief encounter was his dark pink hair which was several shades of pink darker than Virgo's. The only other thing she remembered of him was his bright smile, the wide-toothy smile that you couldn't help but smile as well. _It's contagious…_ She realised, before a small smile slid across her face again.

Ever since she was dumped on the streets of Laflower Town at the age of ten, her memories were wiped by magic. She figured out this much, however couldn't figure out why she was abandoned. The only things that hadn't been wiped from her memory were her first name, her knowledge of spirits, her literacy and her training as a celestial wizard since the age of five. She never had friends in Laflower Town, nor was she ever loved or cared for. _I wasn't accepted either..._

A sinking feeling weighed down her stomach as she glanced at her watch. It he had dug out of someone's rubbish a few years ago. Believe it or not, it wasn't broken so Lucy took it in. 8:15am. _Its time._ She placed her fingers wearily to her forehead. _Should I really go or not?_

Lucy paused what she was doing to brush her strands of hair out of eyes as she thought back to yesterday when she agreed to join that boy on his journey. Natsu…? Was he called? _If I join him, then I'll probably never have to steal anymore. I'll be accepted like I always wanted to be. _Despite her optimism, thoughts stabbed at her, causing her to rethink. Despair consumed her once more as a particularly sharp thought jabbed into her. _He's probably doing this out of pity… _

She just sat there, on the grubby ground trying to figure out her feelings. She was scared to leave this place. What if she left only to be abandoned again? She didn't want to change. But she couldn't spend her life like this. _Who cares. I've got nothing to lose. Might as well take my chance. _She concluded with a short nod.

She then shook her head fiercely as she forced all thoughts to the back of her mind, focused only on leaving the town.

Zipping up her bag, she took a long stare at the familiar alleyway that had been her home for seven years, memorising every nook and cranny. She gave another heavy sigh as she stared longingly at the bare walls and dirty floors to the occasional spider creeping in the shadows. _It's all so familiar._ Weighing out her judgements she decided, that she would be glad to leave this town, this town that left so many difficult memories behind. She was willing to forget.

She thought back to the honest smile on Natsu's face. _Would he…protect me?_ Shaking her head rapidly she glanced at her worn-away watch again, before frowning in confusion. The frown cracked the dried muck on her forehead that was embedded deep into her skin. 8:15am. She blinked in confusion. Wasn't it 8:15 a while ago? Her hazel eyes widened in shock as she realised the most crucial thing.

The second hand stopped moving.

_Oh no! Am I late?_ She turned her head to the steadily rising sun in the distance. A hollow pit of worry sank into the depths of her stomach. _What if he leaves without me? _She turned frantically around, taking one last look at her home before swinging her side bag over her shoulders. Her hands checked that her keys were dangling under her cloak before rushing out of the alleyways in a hurry, one thought echoing in her mind.

_Pity or not, I'll take the chance. So please. Wait for me!_

….

Natsu paced across the pathway, again and again, looking up every now and then to check the entrance of the gate. Every minute was passed in silence. _I guess she's not coming… And it doesn't seem like she's the type to be late._

"Well, I'm guessing she isn't coming." Gray voiced Natsu's thoughts as he picked up his bag loosely from the ground. Standing up, his head faced Natsu's. It was 9:00am.

"Yeah… I guess…" Natsu's voice was dead of emotion as he stared down to his pinkie before picking up his own bag. "Let's go." He was disappointed almost. He really wasn't expecting her to come, but he still couldn't help but feel a sense of betrayal. Taking one last look at the town in the distance, walked ahead as a dark expression clouded his features. _Goodbye Lucy._

"Are you sure, Natsu?" Happy peered worryingly at him as he fell in step besides him.

Natsu's mood seemed to change as he swung his head down to meet Happy's worried gaze. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm sure. If she's not coming then she probably changed her mind. Let's go! Happy, Gray." His tone was unusually cheerful, as if he was faking it.

Gray frowned. His rival's tone was cheerful. Too cheerful. Ignoring his doubts, he fell in step behind him as they walked onto the Hanna Trail.

It was like a wave of darkness. The sun disappeared immediately as they took their first step onto the path. There were shadowy forests on either side of them as they passed, their shoes scratching against the rugged surface of the path. The trees seemed to loom over them, taking away the sunlight. An occasional pebble might be kicked forward, echoing in the distance. Despite the soft chirps they had heard before, there was only a deep heavy silence. As the hard, sandy ground faded to a soft muddy path, they walked in silence where only the softs trudging of footsteps could be heard.

Happy looked over to where Gray walked, his shoulders slumped slightly as if he was deep in thought. Tentatively, the cat broke the heavy silence. "Gray…? Where is your shirt?" He smiled innocently as a ridiculous expression took over Gray's face.

Gray looked down, his eyes almost popping in embarrassment. _Shit. There goes another shirt._

"At least you still have your pants on this time." Natsu joined in observing the expression on Gray's face.

Gray yelled out with a red face, startling the once heavy silence. "GAH! I KEEP TELLING YOU TWO. IT'S A HABIT!"

Natsu felt goose-bumps climb up his arms as the ominous feeling only became heavier as Gray's outburst echoed like screeches. Instead of the light mood that he had planned by pointing out Gray's eccentric habit, the eeriness grew, almost like a blanket, smothering them in its wake.

…

It had been a while since Lucy had left the alleyways, rushing towards the direction of the Hanna trail. Finally bursting out of the gates, she scanned the distance, hoping to see a mess of pink hair.

There was no one there. Panting heavily, her heart sank as she jogged half-heartedly towards the sandy path. As she arrived, she glanced wildly, hoping that she hadn't missed anything, slowing down as a large rock swam into view, jutting out of the ground.

_Ahh relief._ Collapsing on it, she sat down to catch her breath before peering around while she felt her heart sink yet again, as she realised that no-one was here. A dusty wind blew over her, causing grains of sand to lodge themselves in her already dirtied hair. She sat with her head bowed. _I guess I was too late._

She felt tears spring to her eyes as she began to regret not coming earlier. As the tears began their descent down her blackened cheeks, she wiped at it, leaving dark smudges on her dusty palms. She ignored the warm wind teasing her hair. She ignored the rough grains of sand under her bare feet. _Why am I crying for? It's my fault anyways._

However, among the yellow sand, something felt out of place. With blurred eyes, a strange colour caught her attention as she wiped her falling tears. She sniffled before reaching out tentatively to the piece of blue fabric slumped on the side of the rock. A shirt.

Letting out a small smile, she couldn't believe her luck at finding such a useful item. After finding it to be quite new, she examined the piece of fabric before placing it into her bag. _Can't waste a good shirt. I wonder who would just throw it here?_

Glancing around for any other strange objects, she momentarily forgot about her regret. She squinted, rubbing her eyes for clarity while she tried to look around. For the first time, she noticed something odd. Foot prints were scattered over the sand, criss-crossing over each other_. These are really recent, _Lucy thought as shetip-toed over, determined not to spoil the prints. Recognising her own, she then noticed three unfamiliar pairs. One led from the large rock she had been sitting at earlier while the other one had been placed in a circle as if the person had been pacing around. The last one was strange. It was of a small animal's paw-print, embedded deep into the sand. Her eyes followed the paw-prints until they merged with the other two prints into one trail. And they all leaded to the dark path ahead of her.

Goose-bumps raised up her neck, the ominous path held her gaze as she noticed a lopsided sign hanging in midair.

Hanna Trail, it said.

_So this is the Hanna Trail. Natsu must have gone through here. If I run, I might be able to catch up to him. _Rushing at it, she suddenly stopped as she felt waves of chilliness emanating from it. _I don't think is a good idea. There's a heavy sensation building in my stomach. _She paused at the entrance, debating over in her head. _Is it really worth it?_ All at once, small pieces of memories flowed through her, memories of sadness, memories of pain, memories of loneliness.

_It's worth it._ With this thought in mind, she stepped onto the cool pathway, the immediate iciness of it, sending ripples of shivers up her leg. Clutching her flowing cloak around her, she proceeded into the ill-omened unknown. Almost like a lamb into the tiger's den.

…

"Natsu. We've been walking for ages now. And I don't think we're going anywhere because that's the second time now that I saw that tree. That tree with the weird eye pattern over there." Happy pointed out to a tall tree that stood out with its iris patterns. "What if lover of the legend looped this place?" He whined, poking Natsu's leg with his paw repetitively

"They are probably of the same species and it wasn't that long since we started walking. It's only been like half an hour." Natsu raised his head in an attempt to see the sun's direction but it was in vain as the dark canopies stopped any light from getting to the ground.

They walked in silence again. The forests on their sides seemed dead, the large trees were so dark that they almost seemed charcoal black. Dead debris of crumpled leaves and muddy slime coated the floor like someone poured it there. But nothing of these compared to the scent of the pathway. It was a heavy leafy smell, too sweet to be considered normal. The gang would occasionally come across small dead animals, their skin would be half peeled off with their thin bones exposed. And every silence, there would be a long screech emanating from the depths of the dark forests. An increasing feeling of being watched followed them as they walked.

"Natsu." It was Gray as he mouthed to him. "We're not alone."

"I know." Natsu mouthed back then there was silence.

It was after another short while that Happy spotted a source of light up ahead.

"Hey, there's light ahead." Happy cried happily as he raced towards it happy to get away from the gloom.

"All right! I'm all fired up!" Natsu ran ahead with Happy while Gray lagged behind, walking.

For some reason, there was a soft gooey feeling before Gray stepped into a dappled clearing full of sunlight. Almost like he walked into a soapy bubble. Curiously, he looked at Natsu and Happy, wondering if they felt the same thing. There was no strange reaction. Walking into the large clearing, he threw away he doubts as he observed the place.

The muddy floor had been replaced by soft green grass while a warm wind blew through the meadow. Wild flowers popped up, scattered around as the sweet chirping of birds were heard again. It was almost like a summer paradise in the middle of the dark forest. Gray frowned in confusion. _This isn't right. _

Natsu, on the other hand, stared around in wonder.

Gray jerked violently when he felt a slender hand touch his shoulder. Turning around, he was surprised to see a young maiden with vivid violet locks standing gracefully in front of him. She was quite pretty, he noted with her shining locks of silky hair and her piercing red eyes. She wore a simple light purple dress, complimenting her hair while her hair itself was let down, held back by a red ribbon. Her jaw was angular while her lips were positioned in a sweet smile.

"Hello. Are you people travellers?" Her voice was sweet, almost like honey as she cocked her head slightly to the side.

Gray grew suspicious. "Who are you?" As the words left his lips, a mouth-watering scent of baked pies and toasted waffles filled the dappled meadow. Enough to make any person with a full stomach drool. Ignoring the tasty smell, he gazed intently at her while Natsu and Happy came flanking behind him.

"My name is Gabriel Houndston. My grandfather and I live in that small hut over there." She pointed a delicate hand to the small housing in the corner of the meadow, small wisps of smoke rising out of the only chimney. "He's out at the moment but he said to invite any travellers in for lunch. I've baked a lot of pies!"

Gray planned to ignore this encounter. "No, it's fin-"

But he was cut off by Natsu and Happy's loud voices. "Yes please!"

Gray turned to glare at Natsu. "We've got things to do."

"No we don't."

"We're in a hurry."

"It'll be really short. Besides, she seems like a nice person. She's kinda pretty as well." Natsu protested as he turned back to the maiden with a toothy grin. "We'll take your offer!"

She smiled widely, showing all her perfect teeth before indicating to the little hut. "Follow me."

Poor Gray was dragged along. As he stared at her retreating back, a nagging thought of doubt grew.

_She wasn't looking at us when she smiled._ Gray turned his head back to where she was staring at. _Who or what was she looking at?_ There was nothing except a few blue butterflies, fluttering in the wind. As they followed along, Gray couldn't get over her smile. Even if it was pretty and kind, it somehow felt … wrong.

…..

_I knew this was a bad idea._

It had been a while since Lucy ran into the forest path, the Hanna Trail. Her bare feet squelched in the mud as she ran and stumbled over vines and loose debris in her way. Panting heavily, she decided for a quick break from running as she collapsed onto the muddy floor. Darkness folded over her like a cover as she struggled to catch her breath. _I knew this was a bad idea. _

As she sat on the wet slap of muddy ground, she ripped off the bottom of her long cloak to tie over her feet, relishing in the relief it gave from the pain of blisters and sores dotted over her feet. _Oh why didn't I steal a pair of shoes before I left?_

Fear stabbed at her as soft murmurs seemed to come from the forests on either side of her while she trembled slightly at the cold temperatures. Thinking over at what spirits she could call on, she contemplated, crossing out the possibilities in her head. _Well I would ask Virgo to carry me, but she's injured. Plue wouldn't be much of a help… It's not Horologium's work day today… There's no water for Aquarius… besides she won't carry me either._

She jumped again before whipping her head around as she felt something watching her. _Oh well, forget it. I better keep running. _She quickly got to her feet, stumbling at her balance before forcing her aching legs to run. _I must be getting closer to Natsu by now._

She ran for another while before stumbling into a dark clearing. The over-powering smell of sweetness assaulted her nose as the temperature seemed to drop even more. She slowed down, panting heavily. The darkness suffocated her, as if trying to prevent her from running while a haziness seemed to drape itself over the surrounding trees. Blindly she stumbled out into a large clearing full of squelching mud, deceased creatures and over-sized gnarled tree roots. Almost like a still sea of the dead.

She then heard someone's voice and instantly crawled to the nearest tree root, concealing her-self. She then peered around.

Lucy startled once as a flash of pink caught her eye in the dull gloom. _Natsu!_ Dragging her eyes over, she noticed the back of the pink-haired man in front of another person with dark hair stand in the middle of the muddy ground, completely off the Hanna Trail. She then noticed a blue cat standing on hind legs.

Despite the pain of her aching body, she was about to jump up and reveal herself when a jolt of fear ran down her spine as she noticed who they were talking to.

It was a woman in a floor-length black dress. With long dark hair and blood-red eyes, she talked to Natsu and his friends animatedly. _Was she a friend of Natsu's as well?_ Lucy wondered, but still couldn't get over the fact that she was radiating an evil aura. But it wasn't the murderous aura that sent jolts of fear down her spine. It wasn't the blood-red eyes. It wasn't the long claws that she had for nails.

It was the grotesque burn that ran across her face.

It inhabited almost half her face, ruining her otherwise perfect features. Staring at it, Lucy watched it run from the corner of her eye to the corner of the mouth on the other side. It rippled as she talked.

But what really scared her was the wicked smile she had on her face. Heart-pounding, Lucy pressed her back against the tree root as her body seemed to shut down on her. As she managed her fear under control, she took another look at Natsu and the people he was with as they seemed to have finished talking. _Good, they haven't noticed me yet._ But what had happened next made Lucy freeze in pure fear.

As she finished talking, the woman smiled revealing small canines. Lucy stared amazedly at the canines before staring at her blood-red eyes that still hadn't noticed her presence. Or so she thought. Lucy's heart clenched tightly as the blood-red eyes connected with hers with a sort of dead horror.

_She's looking straight at me!_ Her blood-red gaze froze Lucy in place as a knowing smile of pure evil lit up her scarred face. She then turned a moment later while the others followed eagerly behind her.

_She knows I'm here, _was the only thought that flew again and again through Lucy's frozen mind.

Lucy's heart almost stopped yet again as she saw where the woman was heading. It was an over-large tree stump, its surface mossy with slime. Its entrance was like a doorway, hung with jagged pieces of stone like teeth. She stifled her scream as she made out a few aged bones. Human-like bones.

And she was leading them there. _She's not their friend._ She realised with a jolt.

Lucy felt her entire body stiffen as the woman turned around again to smile maliciously at her all the while stepping aside to allow the boys to walk into the tree stump. _What are they thinking?_

Without thinking, she ran haphazardly forward towards the dead tree stump in an attempt to drag them back, all the while yelling out in a screech. "NO! NATSU! DON'T GO THERE!"

She never saw the large tree root sticking out of the ground.

"Oof." She felt the harsh impact of the ground smash against her body as she tripped over a tree root. But she didn't care that her entire body was aching. She didn't care about her bleeding arm. She didn't care that her back wounds re-opened. She raised her heavy arm, grasping at the air. Her ear-piercing scream shattered the darkness.

"NATSU! PLEASE STOP!" Her strangled yells were fruitless.

He couldn't hear her. He can't hear her. He will never hear her. No matter how hard she tries.

**Thanks for reading! **

**I'm not sure when i can update again but it's probably in two weeks. Sorry, but i just have so much assignments and exams right now that I cannot spare any time to write. Sad to say, i had to literally sacrifice my history exam study time for this chapter :)**

**anyways... PLEASE REVIEW!**


	7. The Forest Depths

**A/N DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ITS CHARACTERS. I only own this plot and a few OCs.**

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the late update so thanks for sticking around with this story :) Since I haven't updated for so long, I gave you guys a long-ish chapter (my opinion). It was supposed to be around 2000 word-ish but I felt guilty so it's 5400 word-ish now.**

**And thank-you to all that reviewed, favourite-d and follow-ed this story :D I really appreciate it, and every time I get a new review, favourite or follow, I smile for the whole day only glaring occasionally at people that piss me off :D They also encourage me to write more.**

**Okay. Let me warn you. I (in my opinion) think this is one of my worse chapters. The conversations in it might not flow as well as it should have. The feelings in it that I am trying to convey are also a bit jumbled up. Not much description and so on. Another thing is that since I'm currently watching One Piece, I might have accidently made the characters slightly OOC so I'm sorry about that. Anyways…**

**Editors: Sadly no one so this chapter might be slightly off. **

**Special thanks to Nicole. milan.52 for her amazing ideas and inspiration for this chapter. By the way this chapter is also dedicated to Nicole. milan.52 (there's actually no space between the dot and 'milan' but somehow this name wouldn't save)**

**Anyways, since it is so long since I last posted, you might have forgotten some details.**

**Maria is one of my OCs, you know the elderly lady that the gang encountered in Laflower Town?**

**Gabriel is the OC in the last chapter**

**The gang and Lucy are currently situated on the Hanna Trail, surrounded by forest.**

**If you are confused about this chapter, you should read the last chapter again.**

**Anyways, sorry for the long Author's Note. Happy reading!**

Chapter 7-Into the Depths of the Forest

Lucy cried out in pain as she felt small beads of blood run down her leg, soaking through her thin cloak. Eyes wide in fear, she watched as Natsu and company walked through the gaping hole of the large tree stump while her eyes once again locked with the blood-red gaze of the woman standing next to the doorway. It was fear and horror that stopped her from calling out again.

….

"My name is Natsu Dragneel. Nice to meet you." The pink-haired mage then gave a nod and a smile in her direction as they walked towards the mushroom-like cottage.

"And my name's Gray Fullbuster. Nice to meet you." He also gave a short nod in her direction.

"And I'm Happy!" The blue cat chimed in, walking next to Natsu.

Gabriel giggled, her melodious laugh echoing. "Well, you know me as Gabriel and it's nice to meet you people too." She then ran up to the door, before standing next to it, her arms in a welcome gesture. "Come right in!"

Natsu peered hungrily into the room, following the trail of heavenly scents with his nose before staring around in curiosity at the rounded room. Stepping aside, he ducked under the doorway before finding himself surrounded by windowless walls. A lacrima hovered motionless overhead, casting light upon the small room. Stopping to the side of the doorway, he cast his eyes eagerly to the table situated in the centre, heavily laden with mouth-watering goods and freshly baked pies.

"Please take a seat. I have to go outside to do something first so please wait for me." It was the girl that had introduced herself as Gabriel, her melodious voice washed over him as she stood next to the door, indicating to the chairs propped up against the round table before walking briskly out the door.

Natsu nodded slightly before he took a seat. Eyes glazed, he took in the mouth-watering scent of the baked pies with deep breaths. It was a heavenly smell, seasoned with the spicy tints of musky wood that naturally inhabited the cottage. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. Too perfect. _This is kinda suspicious,_ Natsu thought as he drew his eyes over the inside of the cottage determined to find a source of imperfection. His stomach growled impatiently at the goods laden in front of him while he tried not to disobey the girl's orders. His gaze drifted to the gap left ajar by the door. _Why is she taking so long? _

Ignoring her absence, he then drew his attention to the inside of the cottage. Other than the hovering lacrima and their table, the small room was devoid of any other furniture, its curved walls painted a pale yellow. Concrete pavement covered the floor under them while another doorway lay on his left, no doubt the door to another room. Drawing his gaze back to the table laden with goods, the table was covered neatly over with a red checked table cloth. A tray of small golden pies lay to his right while a large pie sat in front of him. As he scanned the table, an unusual figure that sat in the middle of the table, caught his eye.

Turning his attention to the strange item, he observed it. The object was a small hourglass, the sized of an adult's fist with gold engravings. It was your typical hourglass; however, the most unusual characteristic of the hourglass was what was inside. Where there would usually be sand in an hourglass, it had an orange gas like fluid that curled around in the bottom half like sea serpents while an indescribable aura seemed to radiate from the object. Regardless of the appearance, it seemed to be alive, its glowing substance licking at the glassy inside walls of the hourglass.

It was no doubt familiar. But no matter how hard he tried, Natsu couldn't recall where he had seen it before.

Drawing his eyes away from the mysterious object, Natsu focused on more important matters at hand._ Now that I think of it, why is there a sunny, grassy clearing in the middle of a dark, swampy forest? And why would there be a teenage girl living here who just happened to invite us in? This is really weird. _Natsu furrowed his brow as he listed the possibilities in his head, simultaneously leaning towards Gray._ It's like she was waiting for us to come._

"Psst. Don't you think this is a little suspicious?" Natsu whispered softly, cupping the side of his hand to mouth in a dramatic gesture.

"Oh, so now you realise." Gray retorted in a whisper, his voice flooded with sarcasm. "Don't you remember what the old lady told us about the supposed legend that revolved around this trail?"

"It's only a legend. Besides, the woman that supposedly haunted this forest has a burn across her face, and the last time I checked, the girl has a beautiful scar less face, so this has nothing to do with the legend." He reasoned before pausing as a grin crossed his face. "And why do you keep referring to the legend every time we encounter something suspicious here?" He grinned mischievously before delivering his last line. "Don't tell me you're scared."

"Moron, I'm not scared, I'm just trying to warn you." There was silence as Natsu eyed him, implicating that he didn't believe him. "Aaah, forget it." He lapsed into silence as if thinking about something before speaking again. "But there is something wrong with this situation-"

"Yeah, why would a perfectly normal girl walk up to _you_?"

"Idiot. I'm being serious here."

"Fine, fine."

Gray glared at him before speaking. "Anyways, have either of you noticed something that was off about this whole ordeal?" He was met with silence. "Oy Happy stop staring at the food and listen to me."

Startled, Happy peered up from his staring contest with the large pie, licking his lips. "Aye?"

"Yeah, I have to admit, there is something really suspicious about this." Said Natsu, furrowing his brow in concentration. "But we might as well keep going since nothing is happening to us right now."

Happy added his share to the conversation. "But Gray, even if she is suspicious, why would she prepare such nice food for us?"

"Yeah!" Natsu chimed.

"I guess… if you put it that way."

"So we'll just eat and get away as quick as possible?" Natsu unfurrowed his brow as he came to his conclusion.

"Yeah. But we should be on guard at all times, just in case." It was Gray.

"Right." Natsu and Happy chorused before going back to what they were doing beforehand with Happy resuming his staring contest with the large pie and Natsu gazing around idly.

Staring eagerly back at the laden goods on the rounded table he was about to call out to the violet-haired girl at the door when a faint sharp smell contrasted with the delicious scent in the cottage. He tensed, rising abruptly from his chair, almost knocking over the tray of pies at his right with a confused look. It was a tangy, rusty smell, lingering on his senses like perfume on fabric. He startled, recognised it at once.

Blood.

But it wasn't from Gray who was now eying him weirdly or Happy who sat obliviously, chewing on a bit of fish to his right. _Where did he get that fish anyway?_ Putting that question aside, Natsu closed his eyes, ignoring Gray's look of confusion. He relaxed as he felt his sense of smell strengthen and through that blindness caught onto the whiff of blood again, struggling to identify it. It was a familiar scent, a sweet, rusty stench that he knew that he came in contact with recently.

_Is it…? Can it be…? …That girl's blood? Lucy's blood? _Calculating the possibilities in his mind, he knew it was possible for Lucy to follow them here. _Maybe some wounds re-opened?_ Knowing this, he couldn't help but grin as he came to his conclusion. _Lucy was nearby_.

Without opening his eyes, he followed the faint trail with his nose, using his hands to blindly guide himself along, staying as still as he can while holding onto the fragile string of scent. Suddenly, the faint scent disappeared completely as the door slammed shut with a bang. Confused, Natsu broke out of his stupor, and instead was met with the dazzling smile of the girl with the violet hair.

She was holding onto a few limp flowers. "I'm sorry for the wait, I was getting some flowers." She walked to their table before placing the limp flowers next to Gray. "I'll go get the plates now. So please sit down." She said as she then led Natsu back to his seat despite his protests. On that note, she skipped out of the small room, through the doorway into another room.

As soon as she left the room, Natsu raced to the front door, opening it with some difficulty before sticking his nose out to search for the bloody scent again, however with no results. Confused, Natsu shook his head with a frown. _I know I smelt blood, but it's not there anymore. Could she have gone…?_ He was however startled out of his thoughts as Gray spoke, shattering the silence.

"What's going on with you?" Gray eyed Natsu with a wary look.

"I think Lucy's here… but she just disappeared again"

"Lucy?"

"Yeah, the girl I was telling you about."

"How did you know?"

"I smelt her blood."

"Her blood? How can you be so sure?"

"I dunno, but the scent is really familiar and the only person I can connect it to was Lucy."

"No, Stupid. I meant how you can differentiate between different bloods?"

"I dunno. I just can."

Gray half-heartedly slapped his palm to his face. "So… what do you mean that she disappeared?"

"I really dunno, when I tried to find her again, the smell just disappeared."

"Oy Happy," Gray turned to Happy who was still munching on his fish, the staring contest with the pie seemingly forgotten. "Did you smell anything?"

Happy eyed him weirdly still chewing on his fish. "I'm a cat not a dog." He deadpanned.

"But-" Gray was interrupted with the arrival of Gabriel with the plates. She smiled prettily as she set down the plates in front of them.

"Well, dig in!" She cried out as she took a place on Gray's right. Whipping out a whole bunch of utensils, she shoved them at the others before placing a chunk of pie onto her plate. Smiling, she watched as Natsu, Gray and the cat followed after her.

Natsu spoke up as he began piling pie onto his plate. "Hey… Gabriel… right? Did you see anyone when you were outside?"

Gabriel's face remained emotionless as she replied in a perfectly stoic voice. "No… Why?" She then reached out to the hourglass in the middle of the table before flipping it nonchalantly.

Natsu felt his cheeks warm as she faced him, her red eyes piercing through him. "Ahh never mind. I just thought that there was someone I know outside."

"Someone you know?" She questioned.

"Yeah… Don't worry about it."Bowing his head to face the mounting pile of pies, he smiled sadly as he began to eat. _I guess I was just imagining it. Maybe I was hoping for too much._

However, as the first bite filled his mouth, the wide grin consumed his face once more as he woofed down the pies with increasing enthusiasm. _Mmmmh, but this really is good._

As Natsu enjoyed his meal, Gray ran his hand through his hair as he observed the girl cautiously all the while piling large chunks of pie onto his plate. _Hmmm. I might as well charge up for a long journey ahead._ Turning his attention back to the strange hourglass situated in the middle of the table, he frowned as something familiar about the hourglass tugged at his conscious. Something that was warning him about it. Thinking back, he might have encountered something similar to it. _Maybe in a book? _

Reluctantly placing a sized bite of pie into his mouth, he was astounded at its richness and texture as flavour exploded into his mouth, effectively distracting him from the mysterious hourglass. Turning his head to Natsu's expression, he smiled inwardly as a wide beam lifted the corners of Natsu's mouth_. Maybe I'm just being overly cautious. Geez the legend stuff really got to me huh?_

Unknown to both mages and the cat, the small hourglass had begun radiating a faint red light ever since Gabriel flipped it over at the start of the meal.

….

Lucy couldn't tear her gaze away from the woman's blood-red eyes. She watched in fascination as a feral grin consumed her face as the woman slowly lifted her delicate arm to point in a direction to the left, all the while never breaking the eye contact between them. Between the two women was a tense silence, only broken occasionally by Lucy's loud panting.

With great effort, Lucy forced her eyes to break the contact in order to follow the woman's finger, eyes darting around for an escape route, just anything to get away from this hollow pit of certain doom. There was nothing in the vast swamp-like clearing. Nothing to rely on. Nothing which can be used to assist her other than her keys which were dangling loyally at her hips.

Finally, giving into the lady's demands, her eyes darted to her left where she rested her eyes on a gnarled tree trunk, its branches spiralling off into feeble twigs as it went up. Wrapped thickly around the large tree trunk were numerous vines which appeared to be leeching off the spindly tree. It was a sort of vine that she had never seen before with a deep green texture and thin crimson veins forming a stripy effect.

Eyes widening, she watched as the vines came to life before her, rearranging themselves into understandable word phrases. She watched with a mild curiosity as the vines slithered over the blackened tree trunk, her body frozen with numbing fear. Lucy's mouth dropped open as she mouthed the words formed softly to herself.

"G-go a-away and never c-come back-k…" Her voice shook as her brain tried to process it but the vines had already rearranged themselves again.

"O-or e-else…"Her legs felt like jelly as she leaned heavily on the protruding tree root in front of her while a sinking feeling sank like a stone into her stomach. Lucy whipped her head back to the woman who in return smiled a knowing smile.

Slumping against the tree root, she sighed and raised her shaking hands to her grimy face. Tears came to her eyes for the second time today. _What am I afraid of?_

"Why should I?" Lucy shouted hoarsely at the woman, her voice box already stretched to the limit from the screaming earlier. There was only silence as the woman stood in the same position, smiling knowingly at her as she attempted to rise from the muddy ground. "A-aren't you Natsu's friend? Why won't you let me see him? I'm his friend as well so stop trying to force me away!" She paused, panting to catch her breath. She shuddered again, her courage failing her as the woman finally spoke.

Her voice was smooth, almost velvety. "Go away, this is no business of yours." Another mocking smile accompanied her sentence. "But if it helps, I can assure you that I'm no friend of this man that you speak of." She now wore a malicious expression, watching the blonde panic.

"W-what d-do you want with him? Return him! Return his friends, and then I'll leave!" Lucy couldn't help but freeze now that she has confirmed that this suspicious woman was indeed an enemy. She fingered her trustful keys, which were dangling at her hip along with the Fleuve d'étoiles, a whip with magical properties which she had been given by Virgo.

_How can I defeat her? Is she a mage?_ Thoughts flew through Lucy's head as she struggled to remain calm. _My best battle spirits are ineffective. Virgo is still tired from her last battle and there's no water around to summon Aquarius. So now would be a good time to use the Fleuve d'étoiles._

Turning back to the lady, Lucy was determined to avoid her eyes and instead focused on her blood-red lips. Slowly, she rose to her feet, ignoring the grinding pain shooting up her legs. As she finally rose shakily to her feet, she acted purely out of instinct. Abandoning all fear for the split second, Lucy lashed out at the woman standing motionless in front of her, drawing her whip out as she ran.

As she ran, her heartbeat quickened, matching the beat of her pumping legs, boosted by adrenaline. All things seemed to slow in that quick minute, as Lucy came closer to her target. As her whip extended towards the lady, Lucy frowned in confusion. Her target wasn't moving, or even attempting to dodge the incoming onslaught. Lucy's heart seemed to gain a little hope. _Closer, closer. I'm gonna make it. Hell yeah! Take that!_

She was just standing motionlessly with a soft smile, eyes twinkling with amusement. _Wait… in amusement?_ Lucy blinked just as her weapon hit home, causing deep cracks to form in the ground. Looking up, her hope was crushed. Fear began pooling into her stomach once more as she stared blankly at the crack in the muddy soil.

The woman was gone.

Without warning, all air was pushed out of her as something heavy collided with the side of her shoulder, causing her to fly two metres away in a small arc. The pain was horrible. Panting heavily on the ground, Lucy felt something trickle down her arm. Stifling a small scream, she peered at the large gash in her shoulder, its bloody mess soaking into her ripped cloak. Getting up shakily, she ignored the pain as she ripped off the helm of her cloak with her good hand before wrapping it around her shoulder to staunch the bleeding wound.

She then raised her head reluctantly to see the woman standing a few metres away from her in perfectly good health, holding what seemed to be a whip comprised of large snakes, their fangs glinting in the dim lighting. Her vision grew fuzzy as she struggled to hang onto consciousness while the woman in her vision seemed to fade into the surroundings.

Lucy shook her head, hoping to clear her current fuzzy state before blinking several times. _How could someone just disappear? _

"Oof." Lucy felt another wave of pain seep through her as a kick was delivered to her back. Turning around feebly, she was shocked to see the woman now looming over her crumpled body, her snakes in hand. Taking deep breaths, Lucy focused on her blood-red lips.

All of a sudden, those lips moved in a flash, so quick that Lucy's brain barely begun to process before the large snakes in her hand suddenly became active. Stifling another scream, Lucy stared at the incoming snakes for a second before her brain began working again. _Move. Run away damnit_. She had barely comprehended those thoughts before the feelings in her legs returned and she crawled and stumbled to the nearest exit of the clearing despite her bad condition. She slipped and tumbled as she ran, the words of the woman ringing coldly in her mind.

"Go home kid."

"_Go home kid."_

She never saw the satisfied smile on that woman's face as she ran for her life, her bag banging uncomfortably on her thigh while her entire body ached. Her feet felt like weights of lead while her heart hammered against her chest. Taking one shaky breath after another, she stumbled away. Away from the lady with the fearful burn on her face. Away from this dreaded forest. Away from the terror that she ran herself into. Away from the pain that tugged at her. Thoughts flew into her mind as she stumbled over squelching mud and litter as the woman's last phrase rung harshly in her mind.

"_Go home kid."_

_Home? I have no home to return to. _She closed her eyes in desperation, trying to cancel out the past memories that slowly invaded her mind again._ I have no home._

Pain jolted through her again, mainly on her left shoulder where the blood continued to bleed through the cloth_. This pain… It hurts._

Tears ran down her grimy cheeks in streams_. I'm scared. Save me. _

But it was already dark. Very dark. And light splatters of rain somehow pierced through the canopies overhead, dousing Lucy as she ran. _Help me._

Her lip quivered._ I wonder if it was me in Natsu's place and he was in mine, I wonder if he would try to protect me?_

_Maybe… judging from his kind nature. _She sniffed raising her arm to wipe away the tears that were blurring her vision.

_Sorry Natsu. For being selfish and leaving you behind. _More tears streamed down her cheeks as she imagined Natsu saying 'Don't worry, I'll be fine.'

_Why am I so selfish? But am I really scared? Or am I making this out to be worse than it is?_

_I came to chase Natsu down. Now I'm running away from him. I came here so I can be accepted, but am I really running away from my wish? _A hazy silence settled over the trail and the sound of rain was amplified as it fell even harder, drenching the blonde in a downpour.

_But he's my friend regardless of how little time I had known him. And friends don't abandon each other…? Right? _

_What have I got to lose? Nothing. I have little value, so even if I do die, I surely won't be missed… _Natsu's pink hair appeared in her thoughts again, causing her to back-track immediately. W_ait I shouldn't say that. _

_Arghh… I'm screwed already, so I… might as well take a chance… and save Natsu and his friends? The lady shouldn't be that hard to beat… After all despite her weird magic, she is a human underneath. And humans aren't invincible. I'm sure if my spirits and I work together, we'll surely beat her-_

"Aaargh!" Lucy let out a small scream as she stumbled over a piece of animal flesh before landing heavily into the soggy mud. The pain in her shoulder was now numbed by the rain while she examined the new scratches in her arm. Sitting up slowly, she attempted to recollect her thoughts, absentmindedly rubbing the soil out of her hair, allowing the rain to drench her fully. It was only after several tense minutes that the answer came to her. _Yes, I can- no I will beat her, along with my spirits._

_And I'm sure as well that Natsu would definitely come to save me if I was the one in his place._

With this thought in mind and a new determination, Lucy picked herself up again, ignoring the protests and groans of her body. Checking to see that her belongings were in place, she pushed away the fear settling in her stomach and began running as hard as she could – only this time she wasn't running away.

…

Natsu sighed in bliss as he placed another large mouthful of pie into his mouth, while he turned to Gabriel who, surprisingly haven't touched her plate yet.

Natsu swallowed his mouthful before talking. "Aren't you gonna eat?" He gestured to the violet haired girl's untouched plate of food.

"No, I'm not all that hungry… Maybe later."

"Oh, okay." The pink-haired mage hurried back to finishing his plate until a single thought stopped him in his tracks.

"But the pie is really yummy! How does your grandpa make it?" Natsu smiled widely.

Gabriel giggled at Natsu's strange antics before replying. "Even I don't know that. Grandpa would never give away his secrets no matter how hard someone tries."

"Aww…" Natsu pouted slightly before he began stuffing his face again.

"Anyways have as much as you want cause there's still more…" She suddenly trailed off as she suddenly mumbled what seemed like a curse under her breath as a different expression replaced her serene face.

Noticing this, Gray immediately jumped on the case. "Is there anything wrong? You just suddenly spaced out. "He stared intently at the purple-haired girl as if he was a private investigator on a case.

"I… I think I left something outside when I was picking flowers. I'll go check it now. Keep eating." With the last line, she rushed through the door, making sure to close it as she left.

As the door closed with a soft bang, the boys were left alone as silence settled over them.

Gray spoke first. "That girl is definitely suspicious."

"Aye, aye." Happy chimed.

Gray then turned his attention to the small hourglass in the middle.

"Speaking of suspicious, Natsu, does this hourglass seem familiar in a way?" Gray indicated towards the strange object still situated in the middle of the table.

"I think so…" Natsu replied as he tried reached for it only to be swatted away sluggishly by Gray.

"Don't touch that, Moron. Have you ever thought of the consequences before leaping and doing stuff? We have no idea what this thing does."

"But we might find out what is it if we examine it."

"No." Gray pushed his plate away before resting his arms on the table comfortably.

"But say, doesn't it look and feel different from before when we first saw it?" Both mages turned to Happy who observed it intently.

"Yeah… you're right, Happy." Natsu imitated Happy, staring intently at the hourglass. It was different, with a red halo of red light circling it in contrast to the hourglass before. The aura that once surrounded the one before seemed to intensify as they paid attention to it, bathing the room in the suffocating feeling.

"This is strange." Gray observed before speaking. "We shouldn't touch anything and ask the girl first. Just wait till she gets back."

The gang then waited for the girl to come back whilst ignoring the strange hourglass in the middle of their table. Seconds turned to minutes. Fifteen minutes later, Natsu couldn't keep waiting anymore as curiosity burned within him. "Oy, I'm gonna go check on Gabriel to see what she's doing." Finishing his sentence, he then tried to stand up.

Key word: Tried.

Natsu felt himself slump down onto the chair again as he tried to get. His limbs felt like lead as they weighed him down. With great difficulty, he gripped onto the table before shakily rising to his feet. His clammy fingers refused to respond to him. _Man I feel so tired. Maybe I ate too much?_ Still stumbling, using the table as a guide, the fire mage attempted to walk to the door with little success. After a few tentative steps, he collapsed onto the concrete floor, his head fuzzy.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" Happy was on his feet at once, flying to the aid of the pink-haired boy, trying to pull him up with little success. "Gray! Come help me. I think Natsu's in trouble! " Happy peered around at Gray who still hadn't risen to his feet yet. "Gray! This is serious!"

"I… can't." Gray sat slumped onto his chair with a shocked expression on his face. His arms refused to respond while his leg shook uncontrollably. A bead of sweat ran down his pale face.

Happy upon realising what was wrong, hurried to help Gray out of his chair. Pulling desperately at his sleeve, the blue cat resigned to dragging Gray out of his chair and onto the floor where he lay crumpled in a bundle, all strength seemingly sapped out of him. _Natsu… Gray… W-what's going on? _

"H-hey what's happening to me?" Natsu lay on the floor, attempting to crawl to the door. "It feels like… like my strength just disappeared all of a sudden."

"Same here." Gray struggled to move his arms. There were several tense moments before Gray managed to raise himself to a sitting position, leaning against the back of the chair. "This cannot be a coincidence."

"Are you saying that this was planned?"

"Probably."

"Why isn't Happy affected?"

Gray thought for a moment, eyes flicking to Happy's energetic movements to Natsu who was powerless on the floor. "Maybe… it only affects humans?"

Natsu didn't reply, instead he focused all his energy on standing. It was only several tense minutes that he finally stood on both legs. Turning shakily around, he realised that Gray had managed a similar feat. "We should get out of here and ask the girl." He then turned to Happy who was hovering anxiously beside him. "Sorry Happy, but could you get our bags?"

"Aye, aye" He said before rushing to pick up their bags from the floor, struggling a little with their combined weight. Happy then opened the door, before moving aside for the two mages to amble out.

Gray focused his attention to his feet, watching them as they slowly shuffled ahead of each other. He watched carefully as he walked knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to stand up again if he tripped. _Damn it. I can't believe how weak I am._ Staying in that pose, he stumbled into the warm spring climate of the grassy clearing. Stopping a few metres beyond the door, Gray turned his head slowly, searching for a violet-haired girl in the distance.

His expression became an expression of confusion as he stared at the scene. The girl stood against the wind, her long hair blowing in the current, at least ten metres away from where they were standing. Her hands were clenched while a smile appeared on her face every now and then. She seemed to be talking to herself. _Why is she talking to herself? Is she crazy?_

"Oy Gray. Is she talking to herself?" Natsu tried to walk forwards again only to trip over an unknown item in the grass, causing a soft thump. Startled, Natsu quickly peered up at the mysterious girl in the distance who appeared to have not noticed them. Rising to his feet again, however this time with considerable less effort, he planted his foot solidly into the grass, hoping not to fall a second time. Blinking, a sudden thought smacked him in the face. _Hey, I didn't use as much effort the last time a tried to stand up. Is my strength returning?_

His arms still felt dead and the remaining tingling in his legs had changed to numbness. Testing out his theory, he tried to raise his arm half-heartedly. Surprise settling into his expression, he felt his arm respond weakly, however it still had no strength as demonstrated when Natsu tried to punch his fist into his left palm.

"Gray. I think our strength might be returning as we move."

Gray tested his theory before his arm flopped down again. He frowned as he came to a conclusion.

"No. I don't think that our strength is returning."

"Huh? But it's easier now to move."

"I think that's because our bodies got used to this unnatural fatigue."

"Oh. That's a good point." Natsu was silent. "Then if the girl is responsible then we'll just bash her up, kay?"

Gray almost sweat-dropped at Natsu's simple way of thinking. "Yeah."

Peering back at the girl still standing there in the same position, they were about to move towards her when their expressions simultaneously contorted into alarm.

"H-hey!" Natsu cried as he watched the girl fall backward all of a sudden into an arc before landing painfully on the grass. "Is she alright?"

Gray didn't hear him as he stared intently at his surroundings. _I'm sure. I'm definitely sure that there was a split change of scenery when she fell. _

"Oy. Oy." Natsu had noticed Gray's low attention span. "Are you listening?

Gray completely ignored this. "Natsu." He was serious. "Did you notice anything unusual when she fell?"

"Er… I don't think so..." A light bulb then seemed to go off in his head. "Aah. The smell. The smell of this place changed. But only a little bit. But I can't be sure…" Natsu trailed off, his face contorted into his typical thinking pose.

Happy raised his hand. "Gray? I think something was wrong with the surroundings."

Gray acknowledged Happy's statement with a nod. _Why? Why does this feel weird?_ Turning to Natsu and Happy, he noticed that them too was just as anxious to solve this mystery as he was. Turning to the violet-haired maiden, he noticed that she still stood at the same position, seemingly oblivious to anything around her. _We really should ask her._

Natsu spoke first. "We should ask her. It'll be easier."

"Aye."

With that, the group started heading slowly in Gabriel's direction quietly. She never seemed to notice them.

….

Meanwhile Lucy fights her rematch, completely oblivious to the fact that Natsu was heading her way.

**And I'll leave it at that. Since it's the holidays for me, I'll try to update as quick as possible.**

**Oh a side note: On my first chapter in the A/N at the bottom, I wrote 'clique'. It's supposed to be 'cliché'. Just thought I'll mention it because my friend kept pestering me about it.**

**Sooooo, please REVIEW! And I really was serious about how your reviews, favourites and follows give me motivation to write. So even if you don't own a fanfiction account, please please review anyways as a guest. It will mean a lot to me. :)**

**So my point is: PLEASE REVIEW!**


	8. Lucy's Encounter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters. I only own the plot and some OCs.**

**A/N: Hey people! Umm... someone wanted to know when Jerza will be coming in...? Well to be honest, its gonna appear in around the late middle of the story. Does that even make sense? Anyways so it won't come until a later 8 chapters or so. For this story, originally i was planning on about 20 chapters but now its going to be like... 30.**

**But for those people that dropped a review, favourited or followed- Thankyou, but just asking... do you people want me to reply to your reviews? If so, then i'll reply via PM :)**

**Also- i kinda had writer's block when writing this so i apologise in advance right now if this chapter isn't to your standards.**

**One last thing- And yeah... i just realised that Lucy's Fleuve d'étoiles is actually a stream of compacted water. That's really cool...**

**Editor: Fatkitty_ (Thanks for your editing!)_**

**Happy reading!**

Chapter 8 - Fight For Her Determination

_Natsu spoke first. "We should ask her. It'll be easier."_

"_Aye."_

_With that, the group started heading slowly in Gabriel's direction quietly. She never seemed to notice them._

…_._

_Meanwhile Lucy fights her rematch, completely oblivious to the fact that Natsu was heading her way._

Lucy ran haphazardly into the vast clearing once again, stopping in front of an oversized tree root. Catching her breath, her eyes wandered around the vast clearing. From where she stood, the towering tree trunk waved idly at her as a large breeze swept through the swamp-like clearing. Its mossy surface even more pronounced than before.

A shiver ran through her, chilling her to the bone. Glancing up, she noticed that the swamp-like clearing was, if possible, more grotesque than before. A hazy aura surrounded the area, casting the surrounding trees in cloudiness while deep shadows draped themselves over the mud, forming an eerie spectacle. The mud was a blur of dark brown and black but upon closer inspection, the mud was like a mixture of crushed bones, mud and wetness while large roots, grey with age, were placed in no particular order around the area, sticking out of the gooey soil like sea serpents on a lonely sea. Towering trees surrounded the clearing, dark and looming, preventing any sun rays from reaching the ground.

Lucy stared blankly at the Hanna trail, which twisted through the clearing, following its path with her eyes until it was out of sight. She flinched lightly as she stepped forward, a faint crunch occupying her step. Looking down, she contorted her face into disgust as the tiny bones cracked and decomposed under her feet. Lucy ignored it. Instead she focused her gaze around the edges of the clearing, trying to devise a plan to retrieve Natsu and his friends. Furrowing her brows, she then fixated her attention to the tree stump in the distance. It was situated in the middle of the clearing, an old tree stump, as large as a small house. She could tell that the colouring was off, even under the mossy surface. A dark, ashy hue.

_Okay, I'll somehow burst into that tree stump, take Natsu and his friends, and then we'll defeat the scary woman together._ _And then after we bash her up, we'll escape from this forest. Easy as pie._ Lucy smiled. _Good thinking Lucy! _She praised herself, her hand clasping into a fist to form a small victory pose while she ignored her growing fear.

But as she stared at the tree stump in the distance, the familiar sense of fear stabbed into her, holding her back while her legs began trembling. _What if she's actually a ghost?_ Thoughts flew through her head, especially the memory of her last fight where the lady had literally vanished into thin air. _No she can't be. There are no such things as ghosts. She probably moved too fast for me to see. _Lucy shook her aching head from side to side ignoring the pain that came with it._ I am not afraid. I am not afraid. _She kept repeating this to herself. But it did nothing to ease the growing knot of doubt in her stomach.

Taking one trembling foot in front of the other she began her unsteady gait towards the large tree stump in the distance. It was a long process as she was determined not to be caught, hiding uselessly behind every large root that she encounters and staring nervously at the supposed 'door' of the stump. She was only within a few metres distance of the tree stump when all of a sudden; a chilling sensation crawled down spine, effectively freezing her in her steps. Her movements became robotic. She didn't know whether to freeze or run away.

_I feel like I'm being watched._

Gathering her courage, she whipped around suddenly in hope of startling her predator or at least to undo her frozen state. Her eyes squinted at the darkness within the tall trees behind her; almost expecting a set of glowing red eyes to be glaring at her. Blinking, she tried to wipe away the haziness in front of her.

There was no one there in the clearing. Taking tentative steps, she tried to peer around to see if anyone was hiding within the over-large roots. There was no one. Turning her head back to area of the mossy tree stump, she ignored the creeping crawl still sliding down her spine, determined to relax.

_Relax Lucy. There's no one. _

She then stared determinedly at the tree stump, forcing her injured legs to walk forward. Her body was still numb from the pain she had received earlier. All of a sudden, a stray thought popped into her head. _Man… why didn't I run to town to get help instead of trying to be the hero? Oh why?_ She mentally face palmed herself as she inched towards the tree stump trying to save as much energy as she can. It was only after ten tense minutes that she was satisfied with her progress.

_Okay I'm here. I just need to burst in, take some people and leave. Hopefully she hasn't noticed my presence yet._

Now, five meters away from the stump, she raised her head to admire its looming presence. It was even larger up close, with deep cracks that ran under the layers of dirt and mossy surfaces. Under the mossy surface, the bark was an ashen hue, dried with tiny droplets of dew hanging on. She looked to the side to see a long, thin line sitting horizontally, engraved onto the side of the tree. It seemed too deep and straight to be natural. Jagged pieces of stone were arranged in the crack in such a way that it resembled teeth. _Okay… next thing. How does that 'door' open?_

As she pondered the best way to 'break in', she paused suddenly while the nerve-wracking sensation of someone or something watching her returned. Nervously, she stared around making sure to confirm that every nook and cranny was devoid of any potential enemies. It was only after she sighed in relief that faint glimmers caught her eye. Swallowing unnecessarily, she stared in the general direction of the stump in an attempt to locate the unusual blinks of light, searching for any sort of living thing hiding behind the over large roots in front of her. Lucy's hazel eyes squinted in curiosity and determination as she searched for the faint glimmer that reflected the scarce light in the area. As the canopy overhead swayed in the harsh wind, it parted for a split second, Lucy's heart clenched in horror. She felt fear stab at her as the short ray of sun lit up some parts of the thick bramble of roots surrounding the stump.

Lucy took a few steps backwards quickly, ignoring the pain that came with it, her mouth gaped open in terror. _No way… those things weren't here earlier this morning. Why are there so many? _The many eyes blinked at her simultaneously._ I have no choice but to ask for Virgo's help._

"Arrgh" Lucy let out a soft scream as she stumbled and tripped over a small root behind her, feeling the soft gooey mud contact to her head. Heart thumping madly, she peered over at the roots surrounding the stump again while her eyes widened in confusion. _Why aren't they attacking me? Do they not see me? _She place a hand in front of the nearest one and waved, wincing in fear as the eyes followed her hand. _No they can see me._ Lucy tried to break eye contact with the thing nearest to her, but with little result.

It was a steely gaze, blank yet unnerving. The creature was holding onto the side of the tree root, its scaly skin the exact same colour of the moulding roots beside it while its structure was similar to a fallen branch only five times thicker, roughly the size of Lucy herself. Its two large hands fisted with six gnarled fingers. Their legs seemed to be rooted to the muddy ground while their faces were did not seem to possess any recognisable features spared for the small hook that could be considered a nose. But what grossed her out was the amount of eyes that covered its body. Large eyes, small eyes. The bodies were covered with it, the bloodshot eyeballs almost protruding from their sockets. Small droplets of unknown liquid seemed to be oozing out of their eyes, dripping onto the ground, coating their bodies in a sort of gooey covering.

The small faint glimmers that Lucy caught were the eyes of those creatures. They had stayed silent, camouflaged as tree roots. Their beady eyes stared quietly at the intruder, but never moved to attack.

_Why? Aren't they supposed to attack?_ Lucy forced herself to stand, before waving a trembling hand softly at the distorted creatures.

There was no response. The creatures stood still like statues, only their gleaming eyes followed her moves.

_Strange._ Lucy peered cautiously at the strange creatures. _Maybe they won't attack me?_ With renewed audacity she began walking carefully, trying hard not to touch the creatures. More than a million eyes followed her passage, almost glaring at her as she slowly managed to pass the frontline.

_Yes! I made it._ She leaned heavily on a nearby root after confirming it not to be living. She was right in front of the stump, so close that she could touch it if she wanted to. _Okay now… maybe I'll ask Virgo to dig underneath? She should have recovered a bit by now… _As she contemplated, she fingered the keys which were lying in the folds of her cloak, causing a soft metallic jangle as the keys clashed into each other.

While she fingered her keys, her other hand rested on top of the thick root to balance herself. It was a smooth clammy surface, wet with dew compared to its dry appearance. A small twitch made itself known on the palm on her hand yet she ignored it, instead thinking deeply at her next plan. It was only when the smooth clammy surface changed into a slimy, slippery surface that it caught Lucy's attention.

She blinked, her eyes widening. More than thirty eyes blinked back at her simultaneously, blood-shot and protruding from their sockets.

"AAAARRRGHHHHH!" She screamed jumping back instantly. It was at this time that the thick root shifted, its many eyes staring straight at her. Still screaming, she was startled backwards as it unfurled into one of the gnarled creatures, at its full length. Additional eyes seemingly popped out of the root as the root itself became drenched with the unknown substance. Seeing one of the creatures up close was one thing, actually touching one was another thing. Lucy let out another loud shrill scream as she fell backwards in shock, tripping over a small root poking out of the ground. Luckily, she did not land on any other creatures.

As soon as she regained the use of her limbs, she immediately wiped it onto the helm of her cloak, shuddering disgustedly as the substance became to clot. She then covered her mouth instantly as she gasped, her heart thumping heavily. Her eyes slowly widened as she realised how loud her scream was._ So much for sneaking in… _The damage was already done. Standing up, she stood at a safe distance from the horrible creatures, slumping herself in despair, sitting cross-legged on the ground. She didn't trust to lean on any other roots. _Urrgg…why am I so loud? Now that lady must have heard me. _She then peered cautiously at what she had considered the 'door' of the tree stump_. Or maybe not. There doesn't seem to be any differences. Nor is anyone storming out of that stump._

Lucy turned her attention to the gnarled creatures yet again, wondering what to do as they surrounded her. _Gross…_ _Maybe I'll knock them aside with my weapon. Other than grossing people out, they seem to be harmless. _Lucy gulped again at the 'glares' that they seem to be giving her and as if knowing what she was thinking, wide mouths with jagged teeth suddenly split open under the small hooks on their 'faces'. _Or again maybe not. _Lucy took time to shudder at their creepiness._ Well either way I still need to get through, charge into the stump, grab Natsu and others and flee. I'll only fight the lady if I have to. _With this resolve, the blonde fingered the Fleuve d'étoiles which was stowed away under her cloak.

"Fleuve d'étoiles!" Lucy cried softly, as she whipped out her weapon. She smiled gently at her weapon, watching the coils of water circle around before withdrawing again. It was without a doubt the most beautiful thing in the clearing with its shining light and vibrant colour. With amazing grace, she spun it around her, hoping to clear a wide space. The blue rope of water snaked elegantly, crashing into the unknown creatures, causing them to snap at the base. It was only when there was a wide radius of 3 metres of clear space around her that she stopped as a presence made itself known from behind her. Turning around warily, Lucy squinted to get a better look at her.

It was the same woman who had driven her away from Natsu, the same deep purple dress which seemed pitch black in the shadows. The hideous burn still marked her otherwise beautiful face while the lips were drawn in a smirk. Standing calmly, she spoke in the same drawling, velvety tone. "So…You came back."

"Give them back. Give my friends back. Now." Lucy flinched inwardly at her tiny voice, wishing she could have had a little more courage. Her heart was beating harshly while her voice was thin and frail, unlike the voice that she had been aiming for.

The woman seemed to ignore her. "You should leave or you might lose your life. Shouldn't you think about yourself before others?"

"No." Lucy felt herself answer before her brain can comprehend. "There's no point in living if it's not with others."

"But they will return… someday. If you leave now, you have nothing to lose. But if you are determined to take them back now then you have everything to lose."

"I don't care. Return them now." Lucy felt her voice crack as it reached a screech at the end of her sentence. What was the woman thinking? She just made her first friend who would actually accept her. She would not abandon them so easily.

"I'm sorry, I cannot do that. They are in a process of something right now." She twirled her long hair between her fingers.

Lucy felt a chill slide down her spine. "Process? What do you want with them? Are you a cannibal?"

She then laughed a deep laugh which echoed distinctly in the forest. "Cannibal? Is that what you think of me? No I'm not a cannibal. I don't think human meat would taste very nice."

"Then who are you? No… What are you? Are you even human? Or can you be a ghost?" Questions burst from her lips uncontrollably as Lucy tried to search for answers.

"You can answer that yourself." Her fingers finally left her hair.

"Then what do you want with Natsu?"

"Hmm… Not much… just a little something." There was a glint in her eye.

"Like what?" Lucy pressed on.

"But I can assure you that nothing major is going to occur. Just some side effects of lethargy and blankness. It just depends on how much of it is taken."

"What is it?"

"Let's just say that your friends will be dying earlier than expected."

"Wha-"

"Now let's get back on track." The wide smile consumed her face once more, radiating an almost murderous aura. "Leave now or I will have to dispose of you. Stubborn child."

Lucy's mind was still in turmoil, thinking about the words that she had heard. _What does she mean? _There was a silence.

"No answer? Well to put this simply," She then turned to indicate the stump which was looming over the two of them. "Your friends are in there. To get them back, you need to force your way in, then take them. But remember…" The smile on her face split even more. "You have me to take care of. Can you manage that?"

Lucy answered without hesitation, as if the bottled up words deep inside her suddenly demanded to be set free. "I will defeat you."

"Are you sure? You seem pretty injured. You sure you don't want to leave?"

Lucy frowned in confusion. _Why is she always giving me chances to leave? It almost seems like she doesn't want to fight. _"I'm fine."

"Very well, let's take to battle somewhere far away from this stump, shall we?"

"Wha-?" Lucy had barely comprehended those words before the scenery around her changed. The tree stump no longer loomed over them but was instead a good ten metres away from them now. They had somehow relocated to a far corner of the clearing where the tall trees loomed over them instead. Staring confusedly at the woman in front of her she was startled as a whip of snakes suddenly appeared in the woman's hand, their fangs bared. She saw it smash into her stomach feeling the pain while she was pushed back from the force. There was another crushing pain as she landed heavily on the ground while spots appeared in front of her eyes. She struggled to regain consciousness.

Lucy felt the blood well up in her mouth as her entire body throbbed in excruciating pain. While the surge of nausea rushed through her, she spat out the blood harshly, no longer staring at the lady in fear but in anger, as adrenaline pumped through her.

An unnerving smile on the woman's face as she spoke again. "That's all it took to knock you out? And I thought you were strong enough to fight on par with me." She then laughed, her deep voice echoing several times.

As she cackled, Lucy managed to gather her senses before standing up. Her cloak, torn harshly, was held up limply by her shoulders. Lifting softly to the wind, it revealed the bloody undershirt beneath, covered in small rips. She shuddered at the coldness seeping through the rips as the wind tore at her wounds. Leaning cautiously against a nearby tree to support her weight, Lucy glanced nervously to the side, eying the repulsive creatures which had seemed to emerge from the surrounding roots as she waited for the laughter to stop. As if noticing her sideward glances, the lady stopped laughing and indicated a petite finger towards the creatures.

"Do you like them?" Her tone was sweet while her hand gestured largely over the majority of the beasts. "They're my design. Aren't they adorable?" Her eyes settled on Lucy as if she expected her to answer.

Lucy tried to swallow quietly, her breaths coming out in short puffs as she tried not to stare at the creatures being indicated. _It's not natural. What are those?_ Instead, she was determined to conserve her strength as she focused on the bottom of the lady's dress, preparing herself for a surprise attack. There was a short silence as Lucy stood motionlessly, her limbs tensing despite the numbing pain.

"You won't answer? Fine." She stepped forward. "I'll ask this of you one last time. Leave."

Lucy licked her cracked lips, tasting the rusty blood as she pulled it away. "Never. Not without my friends. Return them, or I'll just bash you up before taking them."

"You leave me no choice but to forcibly remove you from this forest."

As Lucy stared at the helm of the dress, a prickling feeling demanded her to look up at her face. She ignored it and kept her eyes on the helm of the dress. Her arms were up, ready to receive any attack thrown at her. But it was when the pitch black material became a distinguishable violet that Lucy looked up as shock consumed her face. "H-how?" _How can she be transparent?_ The dreaded feeling of fear grew infinitely stronger as she watched the woman fade into thin air.

A sudden whoosh of wind notified her of another presence beside her. She had barely registered this in her mind before a sudden attack was launched in her direction, missing her by a few inches as she hurried to avoid it. Holding her weapon closely to her body, she jumped back from where she was while her muscles ached from the sudden movement. Gasping, Lucy struggled to form words. "A-are y-you a mage?"

The lady smiled. It was more of a smirk that was radiating a heavy aura of darkness. "Who knows?"

"Who are you? Are you human?" Lucy continued to ask as her clammy hands fumbled with the folds of her cloak.

"Don't worry, little girl. I'm human." She paused as if debating something while her petite fingers rose to her lips in a thinking pose. "Hmm… Maybe not a hundred per cent human. Maybe ninety five?"

"What do you mean?" Her voice was soft mixed with hidden panic. Lucy thought fast. She had to keep her talking until she was able to get her keys out. Her hands trembled in panic.

_I can't find them. Where are my keys?_

_Maybe I've misplaced them? No. I definitely had them when I came here a second time. So they must be here somewhere._ She glanced subtly at the muddy ground around her, trying the spot the lustre of the metal among the dull soil. Lucy's mind was in turmoil as she tried to remember where she might have dropped her precious keys.

As Lucy fretted over the loss of her keys, the woman opposite her had continued the conversation with a smirk on her scarred face. "You don't need to know what I mean. After all… I can assure you that you will not be seeing me or this place again for some time." She paused. "Shall we continue the battle?"

_This is bad. This is very bad._ Tiny droplets of sweat rolled down the back of her neck as she watched her enemy approach. _At least I still have the Fleuve d'étoiles. I have to try my best. Then I'll find my keys after. _With this resolve, she launched at her enemy with the Fleuve d'étoiles, hoping to at least catch her off guard. Surprisingly, the tight stream of water wound its way through the gap between them before wrapping tightly around the woman.

_It worked!_ Lucy's faint sparkle of hope flourished once more as she gripped her weapon tightly, the thin stream of water still wrapped tightly around her enemy's body. But her victory was short lived as the woman before her eyes changed at once, her pale skin moulding into the now familiar ashen hue, drying up in an instant while her long dress melted away. Lucy's eyes widened in surprise as one of the giant roots loomed over her where the woman once stood. _No way. She did not just turn into a root._ As she contemplated, her enemy stood behind her.

"I'm over here darling."

Lucy whipped her head around speedily, her hood falling off in the process, almost causing her hair to give her a whiplash. Adrenaline ran through her once more as she tried to glare at the woman. _Just me wouldn't be enough._ She realised with a start. _I need the help of my spirits._ As she stood there, she realised that she had never needed her spirits more than now. The harsh sensation of loneliness spread through her. All her life, not once has she remembered the loss of her spirits. All her life, they had cared for her, taught her, protected her, kept her company and occasionally scared off the people who would bully her.

She remembered how the loneliness had felt back in Laflower Town, how people would curse her for being different, how people would shy away from her as if she carried something contagious. She had spent seventeen years in solitude, away from society. It was sometimes that she would cry herself to sleep, alone in the alley as no one had wanted to sell or rent some place for her to live even if she did have the money. But she grew to ignore the feeling of loneliness which ate at her everyday but unlike others she wouldn't close off her heart completely. She had always hoped that one day; someone would acknowledge her existence and accept her.

But this feeling right now was worse than the feeling of loneliness that she had been forced to bear. It was a raw emotion, tugging at her consciousness. Her heart almost skipped a beat as she came to the conclusion that this sensation that was now streaming through her was harsher than the loneliness that she was forced to bear in her life. She was truly alone. Her keys were lost. Back then, even though no one had accepted her, her spirits had. They had cared for her, taught her, protected her, kept her company and occasionally scared off the people who would bully her. They were like the family she never had, forever keeping her company despite their unique personalities.

_Aquarius…_ Lucy flinched inwardly imagining the spirit's reaction to the loss of her key. _Great… she would probably give me a lecture, gloat about her boyfriend and then she'll kill me before dragging me back from hell and killing me again._ Lucy let out a breath that she didn't know that she was holding.

_I can't lose my keys. They have to be around here somewhere. _A sensation of panic spread through her again as she tried to think where she might have dropped them. Out of the corner of her eye, the woman stood there smirking at her, the hideous burn rippling softly in her direction.

"Aren't you going to attack? Or have you given up?" The woman then sighed. "Might as well get this over with." As she posed to attack, her whip of snakes rose again, baring their fangs. She paused for the slightest second before sending the snakes towards Lucy with a flick of her wrist.

Lucy gasped as the weapon managed to nick her in the shoulder as she struggled to dodge. The pain burned through her arm causing her to flinch horribly. It was only now that she realised that she wasn't as strong as she thought she was. She had never really gained fighting experience. She could dodge most of the times while her aim was pretty accurate but compared to her spirits, she was nothing. It was mostly her spirits fighting for her while she would back them up occasionally whenever they would encounter any sort of trouble like drunkards or hoodlums.

_This is one of the times that I can't rely on my spirits. I must fight… or I'll die._ As her new resolve settled in, Lucy swung her weapon at her enemy hoping to at least cause a little pain. Her enemy dodged at the last second.

Despite her aching legs, Lucy rushed at the woman with all she had, flicking her weapon again, watching it extend to cause damage. Her feet, wrapped with thin rags, sunk into the soil as she ran. _She's probably going to disappear again. Maybe I'll at least nick her if I spun the whip around. That way, she won't be able to dodge unless she's expecting it and she ducks._

With that thought in mind, Lucy carried out her plan. Unsurprisingly, the woman began to disappear into a root just as the Fleuve d'étoiles hit. The base of the large root snapped like a stick as Lucy's weapon charged through it while surrounding creatures broke on contact. The Fleuve d'étoiles spun in a large radius with Lucy in the centre, causing a large circle of destruction. Lucy closed her eyes tightly, focusing only on her strength alone. Finally, just as the circle was completed, the whip seemed to hit something soft in comparison to the thick roots that it had been destroying earlier. Her eyes blinked open in time to see the lady being flung out of her hiding place, in a small arch before crumpling to the ground before her.

Lucy panted deeply, as her mind celebrated in victory. Warm blood ran down her limbs but she didn't care. Her heart was filled with elation at the moment. _I did it! Now I'll jus- _Her blood ran cold again as the woman stood up again as if nothing had happened. The only evidence that she had ever been hit was the slight blood stains and rips on her shoulder.

"Keep going… You barely gave me a scratch. Or do you want to forfeit?" She whispered softly.

Lucy felt the pain surge into her as her legs trembled. _I can't. I need my spirits. I can't do anything without my spirits. I can't. I can't. What use is a celestial mage without her spirits? But…_ Lucy contemplated her choices. _But I have to try. I have to survive at least. _

"No." Lucy answered; her voice was portrayed with boldness, completely the opposite of what she really felt. "Let's continue." It was more of a question.

"Can you keep up?" With that phrase, the lady attacked, her whip of snakes changing into a short dagger. "I won't hold back."

As she attacked, Lucy dodged. It was almost hell for Lucy, the pain surging through her while she struggled to dodge every time her enemy stuck out. Twice she was hit, leaving shallow gashes in her waist or her shoulder. But Lucy retaliated with her own weapon, paying attention to the attack patterns, striking out at the openings that she could find. It continued for a long time, Lucy didn't know how long she had been in this repetitive pattern: dodge, attack then dodge, attack. Though it was probably only twenty minutes at the most, it felt like forever to her. But slowly, she was weakening. The pain was too much for her to keep up.

It was only now that the icy wind suddenly changed direction, stinging at Lucy's open wounds. She struggled to staunch her wounds as blood loss was a main problem at the moment. The ripped pieces of cloth seemed to stick to her sweaty skin and wound. It would be a pain to pull away later.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the attacks suddenly stopped as the woman seemed to stare straight pass Lucy, a smile forming on her mouth which was now smudged faintly with blood. Her dress had ripped partially, exposing her shoulder which had a long bloody gash. Other than that, she didn't seem to be injured. Nor was she panicking of any sort.

She then spoke, directing her words at Lucy while her gaze still travelled far behind her. "Looks like your friends don't trust me very much. They've come."

Lucy couldn't resist her curiosity any longer and turned behind, ignoring the pain of the small gash near her neck. Startled, her eyes searched for the distinctive pink mop of hair. There was nothing.

"Oh look, the pink haired one is trying to run over now… I wonder if I let anything slip?"

_Huh?_ Lucy was confused. There was no one. She squinted, trying to see through the darkness.

Nothing.

Turning back to the woman, she raised her voice. "Don't try to trick me! There's no one there."

The woman turned her attention to the blonde with a small expression of confusion before a smirk appeared on her face again. "Oh. I forgot. Seriously, do you know how difficult it is to control two things at once while doing something else?" She then closed her eyes in concentration. "Ahh… you should be able to see them now."

Lucy didn't pay much attention to her last lines as two faint blurry images seemed to emerge from the darkness. One had dark hair, slumping towards them like he had a huge weight on his shoulders while a blue creature flew around him carrying bags. Despite this strange occurrence, the only one that drew Lucy's eyes was the person half stumbling, half tripping towards them, his pink hair frizzled from the wind. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognised him. "N-natsu…?"

Her small voice quickly developed into a scream. "Natsu! Natsu!" But as he came closer, she noticed that he wasn't looking at her but at the woman behind her. She froze in shock as he passed her, his voice shouting things that seemed too jumbled for her brain to comprehend. _Did he just walk pass me? Does he not recognise me?_ Lucy peered down at her many gashes, wondering if she was too bloody to recognise. She was about to rush over to tap his shoulder when the woman spoke calmly to Natsu, amusement evident in her voice.

"My, my… I did let something slip…" She then seemed to glance him, studying him almost. "I think I've taken enough… hmm… you people can go now."

_Taken enough of what?_

"Miss." She turned to Lucy, ignoring Natsu's look of confusion. "You can take them back now. I'm done with them. Don't bother fighting me anymore. I do not wish to kill."

"Wha-"

The woman closed her eyes in concentration again. As she opened her eyes, a small noise, almost like a fish spluttering out of water, caused Lucy's attention to be diverted to the pink-haired man next to her, his eyes wide in shock.

"L-Lucy…?"

"Natsu." His name sounded foreign on her tongue while a smile planted itself onto her face.

**And i'll leave it at that. Thanks for reading!**

**As you noticed this chapter is entirely in Lucy's POV, next chapter will be Natsu/Gray/Happy 's POV. Just saying, the mysterious woman _is_ an OC. And yeah... i really suck at fight scenes... **

**I think this story might be going a little slow at the moment but i'll try to speed things up! Anyways i'll be updating as fast as i can. Cya :D**


	9. They Finally Meet

**A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters at all, but I do own this story, its plot and a few OCs.**

**Hey! I just want to say thankyou to all the people who reviewed/ new favs/ new follows ect. so... Thanks :D**

**OK. This chapter is pretty long, with about 6200 words and took me about two days altogether to write up. So i just want you to know that it may be a bit boring in some bits :) Ahahaha... i tried to put in some Nalu fluff... but i think i failed since my friend(Fatkitty) cracked up laughing at that bit... well...**

**Anyways a warning: To Nali haters, there is a slight- very slight Nali moment.**

_**Italics is the flashback.**_

**Editors: Pecha Pichu, Fatkitty**

**Happy reading!**

Chapter 9- They Finally Meet

"Erm… I don't think she's noticed us yet."

"What?" Natsu felt horrible. His body was like a lump of lead, dragging him down. But amidst this exhaustion, his tone still supported a disbelieving tone at Happy's statement as he glanced over to the girl in front of them, just less than twenty metres away, and her back to them. "How could she _not_ notice us when we're practically in front of her?" _And is she… dancing?_

The girl, or Gabriel as she had introduced herself as, seemed to be dancing, her arms waving around in sharp, fast movements while her footwork seemed intricate. Her long violet hair swung wildly in the wind, flying around her in a swirl of purple while her dress twirled violently.

Gray lugged in front of him, his shoulders slumped, mimicking Natsu's posture. "Maybe she's under a spell?"

"Hmm…" Natsu replied wordlessly in a futile attempt to conserve his remaining energy, all the while wishing he could wipe the sweat off his forehead.

Their process was slow as Natsu tried to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other in the grassy meadow. His condition seemed to have worsened as his limbs now felt like lumps of heavy boulders, completely devoid of feeling. It felt like his circulation had been cut. The twenty metres of walking seemed like an infinity to them while Happy flew worriedly above them, struggling with the weight of two bags.

Still, almost robotically, Natsu's legs moving by themselves, fuelled by his will. But he did not want to move right now. He did not want to keep walking up the slippery, grassy upslope. It was only a slight incline, but to his body, it felt like a steep mountain climb that had looped itself. What he wanted to do now was to doze off, to fall asleep right there, on that comforting and cosy piece of grass at his feet blanketed by the warm sun overhead.

His vision tilted slightly as he tried to clench as tight as he can onto the pieces of metal in his hands, its metallic feel drilling into his numbing skin. It was a ring of large keys, comprising of four. Two were dull silver while the other two were gold. Both colours looked in need of polishing. They were strangely light in contrast to their appearance, radiating a certain aura that Natsu couldn't put his mind to. But there definitely was something familiar about them. _Maybe I saw it somewhere before?_ Natsu furrowed his brow in concentration, no longer focusing on his jerky walk, but on the strange keys held in his hands. _Where have I seen it before?_ He stopped his walking unconsciously, swaying slightly as he tried to keep his balance from the sudden stop.

He failed. Natsu had never felt as weak in his life as now as he saw the ground rush up to meet him in a crushing force. His eyelids were heavy while the grass seemed like the perfect bed of feathers. It was tempting. So tempting to fall asleep and never wake up for a while. To ignore all of this exhaustion, vulnerability and weakness. He felt his eyelids close halfway and suddenly found himself thinking. _Just five minutes. I want to sleep for five minutes. That's all._ Just as Natsu's eyelids closed, a loud voice penetrated through his sub-consciousness. _Happy…_ It was only Happy's loud voice that jolted him from the comforts of blackness that had threatened to engulf him. A soft buzzing clouded his mind.

"Natsu! Natsu! You can't sleep now!" Happy dropped both bags as he hurried to Natsu's side, his paws struggling to hold Natsu up while his wings flapped violently from the effort.

"Mmmmmh…" Natsu tried to draw himself back into reality as the soft buzzing seemed to disappear at the loudness of the Exceed.

Gray had turned around at Happy's loud voice. "Oy Slanty-eyes. Don't fall asleep on us."

It was this statement that sparked a small anger in Natsu, forcing him to wake up again. "Yeah. Yeah. Droopy-eyes, I know." Natsu shook his head in attempt to clear up the fogginess in his eyes. With great effort, he managed to stand up shakily. "Don't worry. I'm fine." He murmured to the blue cat still hovering over him anxiously. None of them noticed Gray's inquisitive gaze.

"Hey, what are you holding?"

Both heads turned to Gray who faced them, his dark hair matted over his forehead. The ice-make mage then indicated loosely to Natsu's clenched hand, the glint of gold and silver visible in the faint sunlight.

Realising what he meant, Natsu raised his hand slightly, unclenching his hand to reveal the ring of keys. "Oh this? I just found it somewhere in the grass. It looked familiar so I picked it up." He handed it to Gray and watched as he seemed to study it, all the while muttering to himself.

"Keys… Keys…" He muttered distractingly before he indicated at Natsu. "I think I've read about this somewhere before. Back when we were kids."

"Really?" Immediately, Natsu searched through his memory, determined to drag out that little piece of information. He tried to draw out the sessions of education that he went through as a child, but the only memories that had resurfaced were the ones that he thought he had buried a long time ago; the memories that he had promised himself that he will never be sad about again. It was the memories of Lisanna when she was still alive. Memories of her smiling, laughing, crying, joking aroun- No, he really had to stop this. Lisanna was dead already. And there was nothing he could do about it.

_But she'll always be alive in your memories._

Natsu jolted for a bit, ignoring all things at that moment to glance around. It was a sweet voice, high yet not a screech. A calming tone. It was a vivid voice, so vivid in fact that it took Natsu ten seconds of glancing around before he realised it echoed in his head. The voice was very familiar, something that he hadn't heard in a long time. One name floated into his mind.

Lisanna.

It was Lisanna's voice that had been in his head, her sweet voice echoing in his mind. That phrase had been used in the very first conversation they shared together, which he still remembered, even though it had been over a decade now. It was the day after his foster mother's death. He still remembered how that one short phrase had gotten him over her death. The short memory resurfaced itself without his permission, floating dauntingly in his mind, refusing to leave until he played it all out. Smiling wistfully, the memory played itself out in his head.

_An eight-year old Natsu sat alone on the bench, watching as passer-by's gave him pitying looks and small smiles. It was a cloudy day; the wind blew coldly, ruffling his short hair while small blossoms fell from the Cherry Blossom trees above._

_It was common knowledge to everyone that Natsu's foster mother had died yesterday. What Natsu had heard about her death was that she had died from a wound caused by magic. Apparently, she was found outside village walls, lying on the grass in a coma-like state while large gashes were reported to have been found on her arms. She breathed fine, but her heart had no beat. They had attempted to lift her, but as soon as she was moved, her body tensed before a blood-curdling scream was heard. It was immediately after that scream that she had died. Or that's what he heard from witnesses. _

_She was an amazing woman, one that many respected and admired, not only for her courage but for her magic. Magic was not a common thing. Some were born with it, while others struggled in their lives to learn it. Both types of people were referred to as mages or wizards. _

_The village that Natsu had lived in was a small village of 700 people. This village was located in the centre of an unknown forest, isolated from other neighbouring Kingdoms. Within the population of 700, there were at least 40 mages, helping out others using their magic. However, this village had also developed a system of defence to act against the increasing numbers of bandits across the world: a system consisting entirely of mages from the village in order to defend it. The mages were to patrol an area daily in pairs, in order to spot any groups of bandits that seemed to have somehow discovered their isolated village. They were then paid for it and it became their full-time job. Their village was known to the rest of the world; however no one apart from its inhabitants really knew the location and very few people had actually step out of the village in their lifetime even though there was a train station not too far from the village._

_Natsu's foster mother was a mage who had found Natsu one day, playing around in a field. She had taken him in, given him shelter, food and water, even going to the extent of adopting him as her son. Natsu was grateful to her, for her kindness and for her generosity. She was one of the only people that he could have relied on, but she was gone now._

_Natsu sat on that bench, refusing to cry. His heart was a jumbled mess, his forced smile always trembling. It was that time that she approached him. It was the first time he talked to the girl named Lisanna Strauss._

"_Hey. Are you Natsu Dragneel? " Lisanna Strauss was a year younger than him, a girl that he always saw around the village but never really talked to. "I'm sorry for your loss. She really was a really kind and pretty woman. " She said, sitting down next to him._

"_Yeah." His voice had been emotionless, his head bowed._

_Lisanna persisted despite his tone, chatting to him like they were old friends. She tried to talk about unrelated subjects such as the world outside the village or the different stores that had been set up while Natsu sat motionlessly, brooding away. It hurt. For her to sit next to him and talk about unrelated things and Natsu had appreciated her intentions. But everything she had said, he would unconsciously relate each back to his late foster mother; how she would tell him stories of the outside world; or when she would drag him to the stores. And every topic that she started on dug a deeper hole into his heart until he couldn't take it anymore and shouted loudly at her. It was completely accidental. _

"_Stop!" Natsu buried his head in his hands, trying to ignore the trickling sensation of liquid flowing down his face. "Stop talking! You're so annoying! Go away!" He had expected her to burst into tears and run away at is outburst, but to his surprise, the girl called Lisanna stayed there with him until he finished crying, patting his back occasionally. It was after Natsu finally controlled his emotions that he turned to the girl beside him with a muffled apology. "Sorry for yelling at you."_

"_No, no. It's fine." She said with a cheery smile only to see him mumbling to himself again._

"_But she's gone... forever… and ever… and ever…" Natsu mumbled to himself, hoping to get over his loss. Turning almost shyly to the girl next to him, Natsu spoke again. "It hurts."_

"_It does."_

_There was silence._

_Lisanna broke it. "What are you thinking right now?"_

"_What I'm thinking now… is if I never met her then, I'll never have to go through this. It hurts so much. When I think about her, I'll start crying again. I wish I can forget her and rub out the memories of her… and… she's gone now and… it hurts."_

"_You can't do that."_

"_Why? Why can't I?" Natsu looked up in a whirl of tears. _

_But what Lisanna had said next changed his opinion completely._

"_Because even though it seems like she's gone forever, she'll always be alive in your memories." Turning to the boy next to her, she gently pulled him into a hug. "So you must treasure your memories."_

Natsu blinked, his heart slumping with his body. _This is no time to be thinking about the past._ He scolded himself. Turning his attention back to Gray, he realised that they had progressed another couple of metres. Glancing to the violet-haired teenager in the distance, another disbelieving sigh escaped from his lips. _How could she not realise we are here? What can be distracting her?_ As more thoughts ran though his head, Gray had turned to him.

"I recognise this type of equipment." He murmured softly, holding the keys out to Natsu.

Eagerly, Natsu reclaimed it while Happy flew closer for a better look. "What is it?"

"It is the magic equipment of a holder-type mage."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Gray looked at him with a 'are you stupid' look which Natsu ignored. "It means that it is the central power of a holder-type mage." Gray indicated to Gabriel who was currently doing a sort of back step.

Noticing Gray's hint, Natsu lowered his voice dramatically. "Do you think it could be hers?"

"Who knows?" Gray eyed the keys as Natsu stuffed them into his pocket.

Just as the keys were tucked safely in his pocket, a sharp scent of familiar rust and salt hit his nose while the wind direction changed abruptly. It was like tangy rust with just the right hint of sweetness. There was no doubt about it this time.

Lucy's blood.

Charged by his determination, Natsu forced his legs to run up the incline, trying hard not to slip on the grassy field. His limbs felt like lumps of lead, dragging him down. As he ran sluggishly, the woman finally stopped what she was doing to look at him with a shocked gaze, as if it was the first time she had noticed him before drifting her gaze over to Gray and Happy who had lagged behind. Blindingly, Natsu ran at her, his voice jumbled, panting loudly.

Lucy's bloody scent seemed to be everywhere, lingering on the wind. He couldn't pinpoint her position at all, the other smells seemingly drowning it out. Confused, Natsu confronted Gabriel.

"Where's Lucy?!" He paused to catch his breath. "I smell her blood. What did you do to her?"

A small smile graced her lips as she spoke again. "My, my… I did let something slip…"

"What slip?" Natsu shouted openly now, he didn't care that his body felt dead, he didn't care that he was at his most vulnerable moment. "And what did you do to Gray and me? Huh? You better answer!"

She looked at him coolly, dispassionately studying him. "I think I've taken enough… hmm… you people can go now."

"What?" _What do you mean we can go?_

Ignoring him, she then turned seemingly to the tree behind him as his face sported a confused look.

_What is she doing? _She seemed to be talking to the tree behind him. His ears turned off as his brain tried to comprehend the situation. All of a sudden, Gabriel closed her eyes tightly as if she was concentrating. At first, nothing happened. Instead the wind blew coldly, ruffling his already messed up hair. Then the changes started as the temperature decreased dramatically.

The girl in front of him had merged into a young woman, radiating a dangerous aura. Her long violet tresses darkened into a pitch black while her dress lengthened. Her red eyes became blood red while her unscarred face was now marked with the most hideous burn.

Natsu's nose twitched. The scents changed also, from the alluring smell of pies to the moulding and rotting smells of forest sweetness. One glance told him that the place wasn't the lush meadow anymore lit with brilliant sunlight. Instead he was surrounded by a sea of mud and protruding roots. The sharp smell of blood seemed to centre and clump together now, emitted strongly from behind him. Without hesitation, He turned his head to meet the hazel eyes of the torn figure.

Her eyes sparkled at his gaze in contrast to the ragged state she was in. Her thin clothing was torn in places while bloody gashes littered her arms. Her blonde hair lifted in the wind. _How did I not see her before?_

Still in shock, Natsu could only stutter her name. "L-Lucy…"

The smile graced her worn features as his own name escaped out of her lips and into the wind. "Natsu."

Sadly, their reunion was interrupted as Gray stumbled into view, his anger directed at the woman while his voice carried with the wind. He indicated at himself as he approached. "Oy! Did you do this to us?

"Maybe." Her voice was smooth, velvety almost with a hint of amusement.

"What did you do to us?!"

"Nothing you need to know." With another sly smile, the woman began to disappear. "Well, goodbye now."

"Wait!"

"Don't come back. Or you'll end up like those poor bones there." Only a faint line of her remained until, it too faded away into the shadows.

They watched as she faded away, almost transfixed as she disappeared completely. Instantaneously, they then turned to stare in the direction she had indicated to, only to find a large tree stump with grotesque features sitting where the cottage had been before. Visible human-like bones lay at the foot of the stump, gleaming white in the faint light. A chilly breeze washed over them before a soft thump brought their attention to Lucy.

To their surprise, she was kneeling in the mud, her trembling hands barely supporting her weight. Visible droplets of blood ran down her arms as she breathed heavily. Natsu was the first to react.

"Lucy!" He rushed sluggishly to her.

"I-I'm fine." Lucy whispered quickly before attempting to stand up. Dizzyingly, the clearing seemed to tilt, ever so slightly as she struggled to keep her consciousness.

As soon as Natsu realised her goal, he too, attempted to help her into a standing position. Holding her thin shoulders, he tried to hold her in balance. However, due to his current condition, both Natsu and Lucy were sent collapsing to the mud again.

Lucy felt body fail her as the mud came rushing up to meet her again. Closing her eyes tightly, she braced for the impact of a squelchy landing, fisting her hands into an unknown material. It was a rough piece of material, yet decidedly soft. Fabric, she decided before she gave herself to gravity, gritting her teeth. It was only when her body hit something firm that she released her vice like-grip reluctantly in order to observe what she had landed on.

To her embarrassment, it was a body that broke her fall. Natsu's body, to be precise. Lucy froze for a bit before coming to her senses when she felt the body under her groan softly in pain.

"Lu… cy… "

Lucy let out a gasp immediately while heat rushed through her face, like fire was raiding it. _What is this warmth?_ Lucy ignored her confusion and instead held her head down in slightly from embarrassment._ Oh no. I just sat on him. Who knows how heavy I might be. I might cut his breathing circulation!_ Ignoring her own pain, she leapt from his chest, oblivious to the dark stain of blood that she had left on his shirt in her hurry.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sit on you." Lucy's mouth rambled seemingly by itself while her body collapsed into the mud, as Lucy pulled it into a crossed legs posture, slumping her back to avoid further stress. She watched as Natsu sat up with the help of a topless man, presumably, his companion. Both people then sat heavily onto the mud in front of her, forming a sort of small circle of three people. The strange blue cat was nowhere to be seen.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Natsu said as soon as he could speak.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Natsu looked around before blinking in surprise. "Where's Happy?"

The topless man replied. "He said he'll be back after he checks something out."

"Where did he go?"

"Dunno. Just wait here until he gets back. We'll talk about our situation as soon as we get to somewhere else."

"Okay." Natsu stared down at his shirt, watching the plain colours swirl into each other, highlighting each swirl with distinct splashes of red. It was a pretty pattern. _Wait… red… _Natsu's eyes widened._ My shirt never had red patterns._ Straightening up, Natsu identified his shirt, dabbing at the redness before realising what it was. Blood. But it wasn't his. Glancing around, he came to a realisation. _Shit… I'm so stupid._ He quickly forced his body to crawl over to where Lucy was, panting slightly in exhaustion.

Lucy looked up to see Natsu crawling almost pitying towards her, his arms outstretched in front of him. "Natsu? What are you doing?" Lucy looked at him confused as he sat next to her, so close that he was almost leaning on her.

"Lucy… Where are your wounds? They need to be treated."

"Oh. Don't worry, I should have staunched them already." She rolled up her ripped sleeves before displaying her arm to Natsu. "See?"

Just as she lifted her arms, small droplets of the thick scarlet liquid dripped onto the ground as the ground itself seemed to absorb it with greed.

"Oops…?" Lucy grinned sheepishly at Natsu's concern, while the same lines ran through her head. _Someone cares about me. I'm not alone._ "It's okay. I can treat it myself." Quickly, she ripped the already fraying edges of her cloak before tying it hastily to the bleeding wound.

In the process, the dark-haired mage finally turned to Lucy who sat staring at the wound she had missed, leaning slightly on Natsu. "So you're Lucy huh? I've heard of you from Natsu."

"Yeah…" She attempted a soft smile.

"Nice to meet you." He held out a trembling hand with what seemed like great difficulty.

Lucy smile a genuine smile as a sense of warmth seemed to flush into her, despite the icy wind. "Nice to meet you too." She smiled as she reached out to clasp his hands in a warm handshake, until she froze slightly. "Errr…"

"Gray Fullbuster. But you can just call me Gray."

"Alright Gray." Lucy placed her hands on her lap, her side bag still strapped over her shoulder. "Umm… Just asking… Do you mind if I ask you something?"

Natsu chimed in. "Lucy, you don't have to be so polite. You're our friend now and friends don't need to be so formal." A large grin planted itself on his face. Just then a gust of cold air breezed through, making his hair fly everywhere.

Lucy continued. "Well… Gray. How come you're not wearing a top? Aren't you cold?"

Natsu chimed in once more from her side. "That's 'cause he's a pervert."

"What? Damn Slanty-eyes…" A tick mark seemed to sprout on Gray's dark head after this statement. Despite his condition, Gray still managed to slap Natsu on the head with his right hand. A loud 'thwack' echoed. The misty haziness seemed denser, suffocating the area with an unknown, heavy blanket of darkness.

"Moronic Droopy-eyes… "Natsu growled softly, almost issuing a threat with his eyes.

Lucy just stared at the small exchange with a slight smile tugging at her lips as both people seemed to glare at each other intensely, sparks flying. It was funny in a way, causing Lucy to stifle a short giggle.

Glaaaaaarrrrrreeeeeeee… Glare. Glare. Glare.

But that was two minutes ago, when Lucy had thought their bantering was funny. Now it was downright boring, as they continued to glare at each other, both of them refusing to budge. Practically feeling the heat from the sparks, she had had enough.

"Okay. CUT. IT. OUT." She shouted before straightening up and pushing Natsu to the ground with all her might since he was within range. Huffing slightly, Lucy felt a glare of her own plant itself on her face.

"Lucy. Why did you do that for?" Natsu whined slightly before stiffening as he felt a heated glare at his back. Turning around, he was shocked to see Gray in a similar state to his, both of them shivering as Lucy's black glare radiated at them. Turning around quickly, both boys nodded to each other as they agreed on one thing: Lucy can be scary.

As Natsu and Gray settled down again, Lucy repeated her question. "So Gray… How come you're not wearing a top? Don't you feel the cold?"

"Ahh… I don't feel the cold all that much. Mainly because I'm an ice-make mage and I trained semi-naked in the snow when I was little."

"Cool…" Lucy felt her interest pick up.

"And to answer your other question, I'm not wearing a top because, since I used to take off my clothes occasionally in the past, I now have a habit of taking them off whenever."

Natsu leaned in closer to whisper in Lucy's ear, causing her to giggle softly. "The funny thing is that he never notices."

Gray continued loudly, clearing his voice slightly before glaring at Natsu suspiciously. "Yes, I've noticed my lack of clothing already, but unfortunately, I somehow lost it somewhere in this journey."

_Lost it…_ A short memory came to her. A memory that had occurred less than twelve hours ago.

_However, among the yellow sand, something felt out of place. With blurred eyes, a strange colour caught her attention as she wiped her falling tears. She sniffled before reaching out tentatively to the piece of blue fabric slumped on the side of the rock. A shirt._

Startled, Lucy drew her bag towards herself before reaching into its depths to find that piece of fabric that she had found less than twelve hours ago. Finally, feeling her fingers touch cool, smooth fabric, she withdrew it from the bag, shaking it around a few times to erase the crinkles. She then threw it to Gray, who quickly examined the material.

"Is this yours?" Her voice was soft, inquisitive while her question was answered when Gray quickly dressed. As he dressed, another thought hit her. Her eyes widened in shock as she began rummaging through the folds of her thin cloak once again.

Natsu and Gray watched her sudden movements curiously.

_My keys! Where are they?_ Lucy was frantic, ignoring the pain and stings of protest in her arms as she forced them to move.

Gray spoke. "What are you looking for?"

"My keys." A few droplets of water fell onto her hands as she rummaged. _Rain?_

"Keys?"

"Yeah, they're really important to me and I think I lost them." Lucy panicked, trying not to show it as she shook the helm of her cloak, as if the desired items would somehow fall out.

Unknown to her, both Natsu and Gray locked eyes before nodding simultaneously.

Natsu's voice interrupted her panic mode. "Hey Lucy, Are you looking for these?" He shoved his hand into his pocket and drew out the set of metal in front of her and dangled it in front of her. It rang a tuneless tune in greeting.

Startled, Lucy looked up to see her precious keys dangling in front of her, their familiar surface, gleaming dully in the dim light. "My keys!" She half-shouted happily, a wide grin spreading across her face. Looking up, she flashed both mages a big smile. "Thanks guys!"

"You're welcome."

"It was nothing."

The three of them were then interrupted by the arrival of Happy, flying towards them with a disgusted look. "Natsu… Gray…." He called out, the few droplets turned into heavy rainfall as he approached.

Natsu looked up at once with a smile, ignoring the droplets of water collecting in his hair. "Happy! Where did you go?"

The blue cat, still carrying the two bags, flew into Natsu, knocking him to the floor. Lucy luckily avoided this.

"Natsu." He whined. "I think we've been eating mud this whole time."

"What?" The fire-dragon mage sat up immediately, his face composed into a shocked state.

"When the cottage turned into that stump I checked it out and the stump was hollow. And there was like this table-like thingy and bowls of mud were on it!" Happy's face grew green as he recounted his short investigation. Light flashed through the rain.

"What!?"

Lucy couldn't tell if it was the trick of the light, but Natsu and Gray seemed to turn a little green as the blue cat spoke. Trembling slightly as another harsh gust of wind tore through the clearing, she spoke. "Ermm… What actually happened to you guys?"

Happy turned to her, his tiny mouth opening when thunderclap drowned out his words.

Feeling the cold and rain seep into her skin, Lucy indicated shakily to the tree stump in the distance. Her fingers felt numb with cold while there was no feeling in her legs. Shivering yet again, she wondered if she was getting frostbite. _It's too cold… I wonder if my wounds are closing?_ "H-how about we take shelter in that hollow tree stump until this storm is over?"

They agreed to her proposal, before limping ungracefully back to the stump, their feet sinking into the mud while the rain poured in buckets over them. Somehow while they were moving Lucy and Happy managed to introduce themselves along the way.

…

Collapsing onto the mouldy floor, Gray looked around to see wooden, mouldy walls; fat bugs latched onto the over-head ceiling while a gigantic wooden plate in the middle that had worked as a table. To his disgust, what seemed like bowls of mud and mulch sat neatly on the so-called table, each with a large hole in the middle of the mess as if someone had been digging a hole in it. _Was the cottage_ a_n illusion?_ He wondered, watching faintly as the others collapsed on the floor around him.

Blinking slightly to remove the fogginess from his brain, he decided to cut the silence. "The cottage was most probably an illusion based on this."

"Yeah…" Natsu replied, his eyes drooping unconsciously.

Lucy seemed confused. "What cottage?"

"We were tricked into an illusion."

"Ahh, I see." Lucy shuffled her body so that she was now leaning on the wall. "Ermm… you would want to hear my side of the story right?"

Only Gray nodded while Happy ayed.

"Well… as you might have figured out, Natsu asked me to go with you guys and I was late. Then you people left me and then I had to run in myself." Lucy felt her eyes droop as she recounted her side of the story.

Natsu tried to listen to Lucy's story intently, but sleep seemed to be taking over. The mouldy floor seemed so inviting as his exhaustion seemed to increase with every second. _I shouldn't sleep. Not yet. Not when Lucy is talking._ But he couldn't concentrate, waiting as her words washed through him. Something about fighting a lady with a scar, then running away. Something about some many-eyed monster. Before he knew it, everything became a blissful blackness.

"And then I saw you guys." Lucy concluded her story with a small sigh, glancing at the sleeping Natsu. "So what is your side of the story?" Her body was fully numb now, while haziness tried to persuade her to sleep.

Happy took over. "Aye. We were waiting for you and then you never turned up so we just went. Then some trees started moving and-"

Gray looked over to the sleeping Natsu before his eyelids closed themselves. It probably wasn't the most comfortable position to the sleeping in but Gray felt at rest, angling his back to the wall behind him. He never heard the end of Happy's story as the blackness overcame him.

…

Gray woke up suddenly, his back aching with fresh stings of pain echoing down his back. The first thing he realised was that he was cramped up into a tiny space. A pendulum-like object was swinging above him. Turning his head around, he noticed that he was surrounded on three sides by wooden walls while the front wall was a pane of glass. Rising up gently, he stretched and yawned. A strong unidentifiable smell greeted him while the warmth lured him to sleep again. _Just what is this place?_

Turning his attention to the pane of glass, he was surprised to see the image of the dark trail, coming towards him. Finally, he noticed the rocking movements of his prison. _Am I moving? Where am I? Where are Natsu, Happy and Lucy?_

_Is this a dream?_ Gray never realised that he spoke aloud and startled when an unknown voice imitated his supposed thoughts.

"'Is this a dream?' He says."

Gray was confused, as the smooth voice imitated his words. "W-what's going on?"

"'W-what's going on?' He says."

What was with this voice? His brain sluggishly registered a cloaked figure come up to the glass and then throwing back its hood, revealing a face of grime and dirty, blonde hair. Her hazel eyes sparkled.

It was Lucy.

"Oh, Gray! You finally woke up!" She said cheerfully, seemingly walking backwards as Happy hovered near her, his wings spread out.

"Gray! You're finally awake!" Happy flew up to the glass enthusiastically, almost banging himself into the glass. "You know how long we waited and I thought you would never wake up."

Gray felt a confused expression slide onto his face. "What do you mean by that?"

The smooth voice immediately echoed his sentence. "'What do you mean by that?' He says."

Lucy smiled sheepishly. "You and Natsu have both been sleeping for almost a week now, six days to be precise."

"What?"

"'What?'"

As the smooth voice echoed his words, Gray felt a vague irritation. "And what is with this voice echoing my every word? I did not shout."

"'And what is with this voice echoing my every word? I did not shout.' He says."

Lucy broke out into a wider smile. "Oh, that is Horologium, one of my celestial spirits. Since you and Natsu were asleep, Happy and I decided to move you two to the Mazesan Town as soon as I was healed."

"So, this spirit thing is carrying me right now."

"'So, this spirit thing is carrying me right now.' He says. "

Happy answers energetically. "It's not a spirit thingy! Horologium is a giant cool clock."

Gray rolled his eyes. "So where are we now? Where's Natsu and what did I miss out on?"

"'So where are we now? Where's Natsu and what did I miss out on?' He asks."

Lucy answered. "We're at the moment walking the Hanna Trail towards Mazesan town at around…" She glanced above him before continuing. "At one in the afternoon and we should be arriving at Mazesan Town before dusk." She then turned to someone behind him and shouted "Virgo! Can you come over here please?"

Gray watched as a pair of slim legs came into view, followed by a maid outfit and bright pink hair. Another person was settled on her back, snoring away. The maid, called Virgo, attempted to bow to Lucy before asking something to which Lucy responded with an exasperated no.

"Is it punishment time, Princess?"

"No." Turning back to Gray, she gestured to Natsu who was snoring loudly on Virgo's shoulder. "Here's Natsu."

Gray nodded.

Lucy placed a finger to her cheek in a thinking pose before answering his last question. "Erm… when I first woke up after the storm, it was morning and you people were still sleeping. Only Happy was awake. I tried to wake you two up, but you two wouldn't wake so I just left you there. And then I tended to my injuries while you two were asleep. Sorry, I took some stuff from your bags. And Happy helped me treat my wounds. And I rested in that stump, waiting for my injuries to heal while you two were sleeping. We stayed there until this morning, when I deemed my injuries to be healed to a certain standard that Happy and I decided to move you two to Mazesan Town. So that's where we are heading right now." She paused for a bit. "Oh and I also made you two swallow some pills, so you won't have to eat for a while now. They're called refill pills. I think."

Gray nodded to show his gratitude. "Thanks Lucy."

"'Thanks Lucy.' He says."

"No problems, we're friends now. Get some sleep, we'll arrive in a few hours. I'll wake you guys up then."

"Sure." There was only a short buzzing before he drifted off to sleep again, in the warmth of that cramped space.

"'Sure.' He says."

Gray groaned inwardly._ Just shut up already._

**Thanks for reading! Haha i know i rushed the last half, but ONLY because i couldn't wait to start writing the next chapter! HAHAHAHA Lucy meets the toilet for the first time! HAHAHA lol just thinking about it makes me laugh. Anyways... NEXT CHAPTER WOULD BE WHERE LUCY GETS ALL CLEANED UP :D HAHAHA Can't wait to start writing :D**

**ok... you are going to think i am crazy now... well i'm not. I'm just excited to write :D**

**And I realise my title names are getting lamer... T.T**

**Anyways, if there's any questions you need to ask, feel free to PM me or put it in a review then i'll answer them the next time i update. I'll try to update as fast as i can :D **

**Cya :)**


	10. Mazesan Town

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. I only own plot and a few OCs.**

**A/N:Hello! I'm really sorry for the wait. My laptop had somehow failed on me and I only type my chapters up on laptop so i didn't get to type. Anyways and then right after it got fixed, I had my yearlies so I never had time to type up this chapter. So I'm very sorry for the wait.**

**Anyways… THANKYOU TO ALL WHO DROPPED A REVIEW! THANKYOU THANKYOU!**

**So… this is one of my longest chapters around 7200 words. I tried to write as fast as possible so I wrote this in 5 days, around 10 hours.**

**It's a little rushed but I hope you enjoy! **

**Editors: Pecha Pichu, Fatkitty**

**Happy reading!**

It was a medium room with white-washed wallpaper. A single bed and a bunk were pushed up against the wall, their blue sheets stacked neatly in a pile. It was night and the only source of lighting came from the lacrima attached to the worn ceiling. There was no other furniture apart from the beds. Just a plain room with plain wallpaper and a plain carpeted floor. A small window provided fresh air.

Currently, the bottom bunk was occupied by a dark-haired man, his brow furrowed in thought. Unconsciously, he stripped before falling backwards onto the surprisingly soft mattress. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember everything that had happened since he woke.

_He was a girl. He felt his unusually large breasts bob while a coating of grime layered his skin, complete with a tattered hood and side bag. His long, blonde hair streamed out behind him and flowed as he ran, something that he was very conscious of. One, He was a girl. Two, he had somehow developed long blonde hair. Three, he was wearing a ragged cloak. There was absolutely no doubt. He had become the girl that Natsu had befriended: Lucy. He was running in a world of black and white swirls, chasing after a white rabbit with blood red eyes and a black dress. Everything was in shades of grey. All except for the eyes of the rabbit which was a deep, bloody scarlet. Without warning, it whipped out a black pocket watch from its pocket and stopped in front of him. It opened its mouth to speak._

"_I'm sorry Miss Lucy, I have to go back now."_

_And then that world of swirls dissolved into nothingness and he fell into the darkness. "H-hey!" He cried, reaching out his arm. It was futile. And then…_

"_Gray?" Two voices dug into his consciousness. "Hey, wake up."_

_Huh? Gray opened his eyes slowly to a world of colour. Blinking, the sharp pain of pins and needles jabbed at his feet while a blue face shoved itself into his vision. _

"_Gray! You woke up!"_

_Glancing behind Happy, Gray noted the maid called Virgo who still carried Natsu is a steady piggy-back. She stood there silently. The pink-haired man was snoring loudly, drooling slightly on Virgo's shoulder. Looking up, he noticed Lucy grinning sheepishly at him, her hazel eyes apologetic._

"_Ahaha… Sorry, but you may have to walk cause Horologium went back as he could only stay for a certain amount of time."_

_Gray blinked a couple of times before realising his state. Noticing his surroundings, he tried to process his location as he stood up shakily, still sluggish with sleep. He was surrounded with people and buildings. It was sunset, the glowing embers of the sun setting behind the tall buildings. Turning around, he noticed a gleaming sign, polished to perfection hanging proudly in front of a building. Labian's Inn, it said._

_Gray ran his fingers through his hair, combing it with his fingers as he took everything in. "No, it's fine." He smoothed down his shirt after rubbing his eyes sluggishly. "And where are we? Are we in town already?"_

"_Yeah. Happy and I have been trying to find an inn for the night. But we've had no luck. All of them are either filled or have no rooms to suit us." _

_Gray turned to the polished sign that had caught his eye a few metres away. Labian's Inn. "How about that one?"_

"_We already tried that. He said that they had no more rooms."_

"_Gray, they're bullying Lucy. We went through six inns already and they were all booked out apparently." Happy cut in with an upset look._

_Lucy turned to Happy. "No they're not bullying. It's only natural that they won't let me stay." She smiled dryly. "After all who would let me stay like this?" She gestured to her cloaked which was caked with dirt and dried blood. "Don't worry, it was like this as well back at Laflower Town."_

_Gray listened vaguely, his eyes on the front door of Labian's Inn. As he watched, a family of four approached with heavy-looking suitcases and travel bags. The door opened immediately after they knocked, and a short man poked his head around the doorframe, peeping at them with small beady eyes. His short__, purplish hair stuck up into two small, round ponytails at the top of his head while a small curvy mustache hung above his mouth. The group talked for a while before the man ushered them in unaware of three pairs of watching eyes._

_Happy suddenly spoke in outrage. "He said there were no more rooms available, and he just let some people in!"_

"_Maybe they were already residents?" Lucy asked, curiosity written over her face._

"_No." Gray started walking towards the inn. "They were carrying luggage."_

_Virgo followed silently with Natsu still sleeping on her back. As the group approached the inn again, Gray walked forwards and knocked heavily on the wooden door. It opened outwards, a head poking from behind the doorframe, the rest of his body hidden. The short man smiled at them from behind the doorframe. However, his smile dropped noticeably as he saw Lucy while a dark look instantly took over his face._

"_Oh." He deadpanned. "It's you people again."_

_Gray spoke up. "Can we please stay the night?"_

"_I am very sorry. I'm afraid there is no more room, thank you!"_

_He pressed on. "Really?" _

"_Really, thank you!" He waved his hand as if he was shooing flies. "Now shoo."_

"_Then why did you let the other family stay the night a minute ago?"_

_The short man seemed to panic before regaining his composure. "They have simply reserved it beforehand, thank you!"_

_Gray narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak someone interrupted him. _

"_I do believe that there is a spare room next to mine. Room 12A I believe it is."_

_All eyes turned to a hooded figure that suddenly appeared at the door frame. Its hood covered the face in shadows, so that it was impossible to see the face. The cloak's appearance was warm and thick, its long sleeves slightly frayed which indicated it had been in use for a few years. The figure was also very tall, taller than Gray by a few inches. His voice was a low smooth voice._

"_N-no t-there isn't. Thank you!" The purple-haired man spluttered, his face transforming into a shade of red._

"_Yes there is." The figure stated calmly. _

"_Well, that is being reserved for a family of three. Thank you!" A smug expression took over his face._

"_No it isn't. I apologize for prying but I checked your reservation booklet beforehand. There is no reservation set for this month at Room 12A."_

_The inn manager's face turned an ugly color of rotten prunes as he turned around, muttering things along the lines of 'traitor guests'. "Very well, thank you!" He held his hand out. "It seems like I had a spare room after all. But I need payment first, thank you!" _

_With a soft smile, Lucy fumbled at Gray's bag for money, her heart soaring in relief and excitement. "Here!" She dumped a small bag of coins into his open palms. "That's should be enough for at least a couple of days."_

_The short man collected the payment sourly before ushering them inside reluctantly. After he locked the door, he turned to them. "Fine. Your room is 12A. Enjoy your stay." He then walked away, counting the payment in both hands._

"_I'll show you people to your rooms."_

_Lucy jumped a centimeter into the air. She had forgotten that the figure was still there. Turning around, she flashed him a wide smile. "Thank you so much. I don't what we would have done if it wasn't for you."_

"_Yeah thanks." Gray rubbed his own hair._

"_Thanks!" Happy chirped._

_The inside was completely different to the pruned and polished exterior of the inn. Plain wallpaper covered the walls neatly, a few cracks on the ceiling. A couch sat in the middle of the room, tattered with stains and rips. The carpeted floor squelched with every step taken while a distinct scent of old rubber filled the room. Only two windows provided ventilation._

"_Follow me." The hooded figure started walking towards the nearest corridor, never taking off his hood._

_Lucy followed eagerly, looking around with excitement and curiosity. "But seriously, thank you so much."_

"_It's fine."_

"_What is your name? I'm Lucy." She smiled. _

"_I'm Gray Fullbuster_

"_And I'm Happy. The girl behind us is Virgo and the sleeping person is Natsu Dragneel."_

_As they walked pass the many doors and lacrimas, the figure seemed to contemplate before talking. "You may call me… Sed." _

"_Okay. Thanks again."_

"_Hm." There was only silence as the group walked along the increasingly long corridor. Without warning, Sed stopped, almost causing Lucy to bump into him. _

"_H-hey-"_

"_This is your room."_

"_Oh really? Thanks then. We'll see you around." _

"_Farewell then."_

_She thought she saw a strand of dark hair poke out as he walked off._

_After the group had piled into the room, Natsu had finally woken up after he was dumped onto the mattress not so gently by Virgo, ("I told you to put him down gently!" "Is it punishment time, Princess?") All people sat tiredly onto the carpeted floor and not too long later, a discussion had taken place. It was the discussion about the mage they had encountered on the Hanna Trail and what she had taken. _

"_So what did you think she took?" Gray looked around, his brow furrowed in thought._

_Natsu scratched his head. "According to the legend, she could have taken our souls… but to be honest I feel pretty whole." _

_Lucy's eyes went wide. "Wait… what legend? You guys never told me about a legend."_

_Natsu grinned sheepishly as Happy went into a detailed explanation for Lucy._

_While Lucy was occupied, Gray continued the discussion with Natsu. "But would you really die earlier if you lost a bit of your soul?" Gray contemplated._

"_Where did you get that piece of info?"_

"_Lucy." He indicated to her._

"_Oh." Natsu fell silent again. "Well mayb-"_

_A girlish yell diverted their attention. "WHAT THE HECK?"_

_Both mages turned to the source of the commotion only to see a scary Lucy looming over a cowering Happy. Natsu gulped as Lucy turned slowly towards him, her eyes alight with an unknown force. Her voice was deadly. "Natsu…" She began sweetly, still retaining the dangerous edge. "Why the HELL DID YOU GO THROUGH THAT TRAIL IF YOU KNEW ABOUT THE LEGEND?" Her voice rose to a yell._

_For one of the times in his life, Natsu froze completely. "U-u-ummm y-y-you see… I had mo-" _

"_I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAD MOTION SICKNESS, HOW DARE YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST DRAG EVERYONE INTO THAT MESS?"_

"_Hey hey…." He cowered back as Lucy walked closer to him._

"_HELL NO!"_

_A shadow loomed over him. Natsu raised his arms in defense as Lucy's leg bore down on him. A burst of pain erupted at one point before everything went black._

_Gray sweatdropped and turned away subtly as he saw Natsu pass out comically, his eyes gaining the swirly effect. Feeling slightly sorry for the fire-mage, he ignored his guilt and instead focused on the celestial mage who was now sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor, panting slightly. Note to self: Never get her angry. Who knew the shy and timid looking girl had a demonic side. He cleared his throat before continuing the discussion. "So what do you think she took? I still remember her hinting that she took away some important factor of our lives. And from the hint that you got, the thing that she took also makes us die earlier." _

"_Hmmm, something that would cause you to die earlier. I have some theories about it…."_

"_Well?" He leaned forward as her voice became softer._

"_Maybe…. Like the legend says, she took out not your soul but only a component of it….?"_

"_A component that will cause you to die earlier?"_

"_Maybe… Like a soul can be made of different components and she took out a component?"_

"_Lucy, to be honest I don't think something like that exists."_

_Three heads turned to the pink-haired mage, sprawled on the floor, with a finger to his chin and eyebrows furrowed comically._

"_Natsu! You revived!" Happy flew over to him._

_Lucy was annoyed for some reason. "Hey didn't you pass out already?"_

"_Nup." He popped the last syllable. "I was merely dizzy. But I was listening to your conversation. And I do believe that such a thing does not exist." He cupped his chin dramatically. "Think about it. It's completely illogical. It had no evidence to support it. Also, if soul components did exist, how would she extract it?"_

_Lucy slumped dejectedly. "Yeah… there goes my idea."_

_Gray glared at him. "Don't try to act professional. It doesn't suit you, Flamebrain."_

_Dropping the act almost instantly, Natsu burst back a retort. "Shaddup. Ice-head. As if you can do anything better."_

"_I so can, you fried ass."_

"_Oh really? Bring it on you stripper."_

_Both boys stood up from the carpet, glaring holes into each other._

_Lucy quickly stood up as well, holding out her arms to separate the two. "Stop it! Both of you!" This caused the two boys to draw their attention to her. "We have to figure this out and you're not helping with your petty fights."_

_Glancing at the floor, both grown men looked remarkably like children who had just been told off. All sat down again. Indignant looks. Awkward silence._

"_Ummm…" Natsu broke in. "Maybe she only took our energy so that is why me and Gray are so tired-"_

"_Gray and I." Lucy corrected. _

"_Fine, Gray and I, happy?"_

"_Very." A smug smile lingered on her lips._

"_Anyways, maybe the only thing she took is our energy."_

_Gray scratched his ear. "As much as I hate to admit it… that is a good point." _

_Lucy frowned in confusion. "That does make sense cause I remember she was checking you guys and then she was like 'I've taken enough.' And also if you lose energy then you will die earlier… it sorta works." _

_Natsu smiled widely. "Then we've figured it out-"_

"_Wait." Lucy interrupted. "It doesn't make sense."_

_Natsu's smile dropped._

"_How?" Gray leaned forward._

"_I remember the woman saying that lethargy was a side effect. So that means that it wasn't energy that she took."_

_Gray groaned "Arrgh, this is so annoying. Why is my life so messed up?" He ran his fingers through his hair._

_Instantly, the celestial mage looked up at him, her mouth gaped open. Life…. Lucy unconsciously ran his words through her mind. Life…. Life… That's it!_

"_I think I've figured it out!" Lucy punched the empty air, her eyes glowing with triumph._

"_What is it?" A chorus of voices followed her announcement._

"_Life force."_

_There was a silence as the people processed the phrase in their brain._

_Gray was the first to speak. "Yeah… I suppose it does make sense. But how are you so sure?"_

_The group waited for Lucy's response._

"_I'm not. But-"_

_A low voice interrupted her. "Shut up." _

"_Huh?" All eyes turned to Natsu whose nose twitched noticeably. "Shut up guys. There is someone at the door."_

"_Wha-"_

_A sudden knock echoed through the room._

"_Come in." Gray called out._

_The door creaked open, a hooded figure striding into the room. Natsu stood up at once. "Who are you?" He asked rather rudely._

"_I am Sed, your next door neighbor. And I presume that you are Natsu."_

"_How do you-" He was pulled down by Lucy who hurriedly explained what had happened while he had been asleep. "Oh."_

_Sed continued to speak. "I was walking pass and couldn't help but overhear some snatches of conversation."_

_Gray retained a serious expression. "How long were you listening?"_

"_Since the time Lucy's yell had caught my attention." He paused to clear his throat. "Anyways, I wish to advise you all to forget about the situation you had experienced. Stay away or she would take your lives the next time you go." _

"_What do you know of it?"_

"_Not much… but I have to say that your deduction was spot on, Lucy." He made his way to the bunk and sat onto the mattress before motioning Natsu to sit down. "Yes she has taken your life span. Depending on the number of years she has taken, you would die at the specified age." _

"_Explain."_

_Sed looked over to everyone before taking a deep breath. "For example if a person was fated to die at the age of 98 was robbed of 40 years, then that person would die at the age of 58. Everyone understand?"_

_Everyone nodded._

"_But I'm not here to encourage you to retrieve your life span. In fact, I want you people to stay away from that trail if you don't want to die. I can assure you that you will die the moment you step back onto the trail. That mage is merciless to anyone who steps back a second time. This is why I'm telling you all to forget. That is all." Sed stood up._

_Gray stood up as well, as if to escort him out. "Why are you helping us?" _

"_I'm not. But I have my reasons." With a swish of his cloak, he walked out and silently closed the door behind him._

_Why did he help us? _That question tugged at his consciousness. _What did he mean?_ That hooded figure was suspicious, he concluded. But what did he mean by that? And why would he help them? He resisted the urge to storm into the next door to demand answers. It was definitely suspicious. But what was more suspicious was that he never saw his face. A hood had always covered the figure's hair and overshadowed his face. He needed to be wary of that figure.

"Owwww!"

_Crash._

A large amount of noise roused him from his thoughts. It seemed to come from the bathroom. Gray shook his head slowly. _I wonder what the hell that Flamebrain did now… It better not be something that I need to clean up later. Oh well, I'll worry about it in the morning. _With that thought in mind, he drifted into a state of sleep.

….

Hazel eyes gazed blankly at the porcelain seat-like object on the tiled floor; its lid was up displaying the still water inside it. A fly hovered around the rim, overshadowed by two figures standing at the doorway.

Natsu stood next to Lucy, yawning and scratching his head. A large grin resided on his face "It's a toilet. You need to do your business there."

"Oh." Her face reddened slightly in embarrassment as she got the meaning. "I knew that."

"I doubt it."

Lucy was quick to deny, her flustered face visible even under layers and coatings of grime. "No. I did know that-"

"You've never seen one before?" He didn't realise it but the fire-mage found her reactions hilarious and he felt a need to laugh at her every antic.

"No." She said firmly. "It's not like I haven't seen one before, it's just that…" She trailed off.

Natsu was curious. "Just what?"

"Just I had never used one before." Lucy answered lamely, her hands fiddling slightly with the spare clothes in her arms. Her usual dull cloak was absent, folded neatly on her bed, exposing the other clothing that she wore underneath which consisted of a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Parts of it were splattered in dried blood while the rest of the clothing were masked with grease marks, creases and rips. The soft blue material was barely definable in the dim lighting. In contrast to the ragged clothing, the ones she held in her arms were new, its fabric crisp and clean.

Natsu was dumbfounded for a moment._ Seriously?_ He gazed incredulously at the figure standing in front of him, his smirk no-where to be seen. _How did she manage to survive? I'm surprised she hasn't died from a sanitary disease yet._ Yet curiosity poked at him. "Wait… How did you do your business?"

"You really don't want to know." Her dirty locks of hair hung matted into knots while a steady stench radiated off her. A small spider attempted to hide into her hair.

Natsu couldn't help but cringe inwardly at the stench which smelt of a mixture of rotten food and sewage. Unconsciously, he felt his eyes tracking the process of the spider that was crawling into her blonde hair. "Fine. Just get cleaned up first."

"Ok." She replied, but hesitated slightly as she stepped onto the tiled floors. "Um… Natsu?"

"What is it?" Natsu felt his eyes drooping, eager for more sleep. He was grateful to the girl for bringing them back but sleep had been the first thing on his list ever since they had arrived into town.

"I've never used some of this stuff before so is it alright for you to tell me what is what and how to use it?" Her voice was soft as she indicated to the small tub in the corner, the sink. She looked away at his gaze. "I lived on the streets all my life so I'm not used to some stuff."

His eyes softened slightly at her statement. "I see." Natsu gently place his hands on her shoulder, steering her towards the bathtub before pointing out specific items. "This here is used to wash yourself. Just fill it up with hot water like this-" He turned the knobs "then you scrub yourself with this." He pointed to the lump of soap in the corner. "Be sure not to get any in your eyes."

Lucy nodded, jotting down mental notes.

"And this is a sink." He continued, indicating at it. "It functions the same as a bathtub, but is used to wash your hands."

Lucy nodded again.

"And that's all you need to know."

"Ok. Thanks Natsu."

"You're welcome. And also…" He suddenly leaned in towards Lucy, his face close to hers. His arm raised up to sweep her dirty, blonde bangs aside.

Lucy felt her face heat up as fire mage leaned close to her, his breath dancing on her forehead. It was a strange feeling as he seemed to caress her bangs, sweeping them from side to side and combing through them with his fingers. She tensed, ignoring the sharp itch on her back until she found her voice.

"N-Natsu." She tried to control the tremble in her voice. "What are you doing?"

"Give me a second." His tone was low while his brow seemed to be furrowing in concentration.

Before she had time to respond, a sudden burst of pain echoed as she felt his finger jab once onto the side of her forehead. Painfully.

"Owwww!" Lucy couldn't stop herself as she kicked Natsu forcefully halfway across the bathroom where he fell at the doorway, tripping backwards over a small step, creating a huge crash. Her hand instantly slapped over the injured spot protectively while her leg ached from the sudden exercise. Her feelings were a mix of annoyance and guilt as she stared at the fallen Natsu at the doorway.

"What was that for?" Natsu almost whined as he struggled to rise.

"Well why did you startle me like that, you jerk, if you-"

"There was a spider in your hair." He grinned.

"Didn't do that then- wait…. What?" A look of confusion took over her features.

"There was a spider in your hair." He repeated, holding up his hand, where a small black dot was visible. A smirk adorned his face.

_Huh?_ Lucy removed her hand only to find a small gooey mess of black spider guts. _Oh._ Staring back at Natsu defiantly, she crossed her arms. "Well, you could have told me earlier."

"It wouldn't have been funny if I did." He wiped the spidery mess onto his coat. "Anyways, I'm gonna go sleep for a bit now. Wake me up when you're done." He turned to leave.

She watched him leave, eyes focused onto his pink hair. But, before she could control her movements, her mouth had a life of its own. "Natsu."

Natsu turned around, his pink hair fluttering slightly from the quick turn. "Hmm?"

Lucy smiled widely, her face lighting up. Her heart felt warm as she poured her all gratitude into one sentence. "Thankyou… for everything."

He flashed a quick smile. "No problem. What are friends for?"

Lucy watched as Natsu walked out before closing the door quickly. Locking it, she turned around before reaching out to the small knob to turn it like Natsu did. As the water slowly filled up the tub in steaming streams, Lucy turned to gaze at the room, soaking the image into her brain.

It was a fairly small room; its floor was tiled with grey tiles that seemed to have been white at some stage in time. Some cracks littered the floor and along the wall while a lacrima was attached to the centre of the ceiling to provide dim lighting. The sink was chipped, a small bar of soap resting beside it. The tub was of similar condition. There was no mirror. To any average person, it would be of one of the poorest conditions for a bathroom. However, to Lucy, it was like a paradise.

Picking up the bar of soap tentatively, Lucy undressed before lowering herself into the steaming water. It was a nice feeling, sitting there, the hot water soaking into her skin. It was like a freshener, soothing her numbed nerves and tense muscles. Lucy couldn't remember the last time she had felt so relaxed and peaceful in her life. Nor can she remember the last time she felt so warm.

Reluctantly, she lifted her arms to cleanse herself; however, it was a tedious task. The grime never seemed to leave her skin. In short, it was like an endless cycle of scrub and rinse, scrub and rinse. As she bathed, she couldn't help but think how familiar the two mages and Happy were to her now. How she could let her personalities run wild without any criticism. Happy had seemed to warm up to her as well during the last few days they had spent together. It seemed like the life that she had always dreamed of. Sighing into the water, she scrubbed at her greasy scalp.

After she was satisfied, she reluctantly dragged herself out of the water. Wrapping herself in a thin towel provided, she gazed down at the water. Where it had once been clear, it was a murky brown. Dead bugs and debris floated idly on top of the water as a stench of rotten substances and sewage wafted slowly in her direction.

Smiling dryly, she proceeded to drain the tub before dressing in the clothing that Virgo had given her. This time, it consisted of a simple blouse and a dark-blue skirt with boots. Sighing, she then sat cross-legged onto the tiled floor before combing her fingers through her wet and tangled hair. After she was satisfied with her appearance, she stepped out holding her old clothing. It was a feeling that she hadn't felt in a long time. The feeling of refreshing-cleanness.

Trudging pass the sleeping boys, she didn't have the heart to wake them up even though they had told her to wake them when she was done. After placing her clothes into her bag, she instantly jumped onto the single bed next to the bunk. It was better than she imagined. To be honest, it was probably the first time she had slept in a proper bed since she had been abandoned. It was soft. Very soft, unlike the scratchy nest of rags that she had built for herself back at Laflower Town.

Slowly, her eyes drooped into a deep sleep.

…..

"AAAAAAARRRGHHHHHH!"

Lucy woke up to a rather loud yell in her face.

"Urrgh… Shut up cat… Stop your yelling. You're gonna wake everyone up." She slurred as she recognised Happy's face. Slowly she rose up, wiping sleep from her eyes. She quickly peered at the bunk bed next to hers. Despite Happy's loud yell, the two mages remained asleep._ Gee, they must really be tired to sleep through that_. "What is it, Happy?"

Happy instantly jumped back as she rose, holding a piece of fish like a katana. A look of fear clouded his face. "W-who are y-you and w-what did you d-do to L-Lucy? You h-have h-h-her v-voice but-t-t…"

"Huh? What are you talking about? I _am_ Lucy." She yawned tiredly. _What the heck is he going on about?_

"T-that's what they all say!" The cat proclaimed, his fear suddenly forgotten. The piece of fish was still pointed accusingly at her as he took another step back, his eyes wide with fear.

Lucy sighed inwardly, wondering if Happy suddenly forgot about her. _Maybe it's because of my bedhead?_ "Is it because of my bedhead?" She reached to comb her fingers through her hair, in an attempt to flatten the blonde hair that she knew stuck up in all directions. Sighing, she watched as Happy shook his head mutely.

Tentatively, he drew closer… "Wow… not only do you have Lucy's voice you also have her weirdness."

Lucy fumed instantly at this as a vein popped onto her forehead. "I'm telling you. I _am_ Lucy. Get it into your brain you stupid cat! And what was the last part supposed to mean? You wanna die?"

Happy instantly shrank back. "Wahh, Lucy number 2 is scarier than the real Lucy!"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean? And I told you already. I _am_ the real Lucy."

"No. The real Lucy is dirtier than you."

"What do you mean by dirtier? You stupid cat." Lucy threw off the blankets before slipping into her socks and boots.

"The real Lucy stinks more than you as well."

Several more veins popped on Lucy's head as she tried to control her anger. _Don't kill cat. Don't kill cat._ It was like a mantra as she smoothed down her clothing. "I took a bath. Is there anything wrong with that?" She then promptly began combing her hair with her fingers, digging a greasy shard of mirror from her bag. Smiling at her reflection, she began to arrange her long hair.

"Can I believe you?"

"Believe what you want." After she was satisfied with her reflection, she stood up. "Anyways, what's the time?"

"7:00am."

"Oka- Wait…. WHAT?" She glared. "YOU WOKE ME AT FREAKING 7 AM IN THE MORNING?"

Happy placed his paw to his lip. "Shhhhh"

Angrily, she lowered her voice, keeping an eye on the sleeping mages who were surprisingly still sleeping. "Fine. I'm gonna go out for some fresh air. You wanna come?"

"Maybe… if you answer one question."

"What?" She fished a Light Pen from Natsu's bag which was sprawled on the floor before writing quickly in mid-air, admiring the coolness of it.

"What did we do to Natsu and Gray when they were sleeping a few days ago?"

"We smeared their faces in fresh mud." Lucy threw her freshly mended cloak over and lifted the hood over her head before picking up her side bag.

"Correct." The blue Exceed flew over to Lucy before landing comfortably into her arms. They chatted lightly as she walked out the door. "Hey Lucy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you took a bath." He smiled cheekily up at her. "You smell nicer now."

Lucy's eye twitched while yet another vein popped on her forehead. "Shut it. Cat."

…..

"_Natsu, you're going to die soon right?" A white haired teenager sat next to a fire-mage in mid-air, the two of them surrounded by a pure white background._

"_Yeah…" He turned to smile warmly at Lisanna who was sitting next to him in thin air. "I missed you."_

"_I missed you too. Natsu." She smiled before lifting her arms to gesture far into the white expanse of white. "Let's jump off that cliff."_

"_Huh?" He turned in surprise to see a rocky cliff that hadn't been there a few seconds ago. _

_Lisanna stood up and pulled him over to the cliff edge. "Come on! Let's jump off this cliff! Then we can be together!" _

"_Hey-y Lisanna!" Natsu cried out loud as she forcefully pushed him down. "Lisanna!" He yelled as he was dragged into a darkness of pain._

"Lisanna…." Natsu groaned as his eyes opened only to startle as the uneven warm ground under him shifted. _What?_

A murderous aura radiated from the floor. "Get off me you doofus."

"Huh?"

"Ice-make-"

Natsu panicked for a second. "Hey, hey wait."

"HAMMER!"

Natsu barely had to time to roll out of the way before a gigantic hammer of ice smashed into the place where his head used to be, leaving a small crater into the carpet. He caught his breath, watching the hammer melt away. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR, YOU STRIPPER."

Gray stood up in all his bare-chested glory, glaring at Natsu. "FOR LANDING ON ME YOU DOOFUS. WHAT THE HELL POSSESSED YOU TO ROLL OFF YOUR BED AND SMASH INTO ME?"

"IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR BEING THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE."

"REALLY NOW?"

"BRING IT ON, STRIPPER!"

Both boys lunged at each other, each reaching to cause as much pain to the other as possible. After a short squabble, their fight caused Natsu's bag to slam into the side of the single bed, causing a loud crash. But it wasn't the crash that caught their attention. It was the glowing substance floating in mid-air immediately above Natsu's luggage.

"Hey, is that a note written by a Light Pen?" Natsu stumbled over to the glowing script written in mid-air.

_Natsu, Gray._

_Happy and I left this morning. Don't bother looking for us._

_Regards, Lucy._

Gray turned to Natsu, their little fight apparently forgotten. "She left."

"Happy left as well!" Natsu quickly performed a scan of the area. "Even her bag and stuff are gone." Rashly, he hurried towards the door, only to be stopped by Gray.

"Where are you going?"

"To look for her and take her back of course. Along with Happy." There was a determination in his eyes.

"But it's her decision." Gray reasoned.

"We're friends. And friends don't just abandon each other." He pushed Gray aside. "She just can't leave."

There was a silence before Gray spoke. "Fine, when we get out, we'll split. You take the right direction and I'll take the left. We will find her and Happy before they leave the town. We'll meet up again at the nearest café form here."

Natsu flashed him a wide smile. "Right. Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

As the two mages left in search for their blonde-haired friend and Happy, none of them noticed the writing that was covered by Natsu's luggage that had slammed into it.

_P.S We will be back before 1:00pm._

…

Natsu collapsed into the chair opposite the rounded table from Gray, panting heavily. "Any sign of her?"

"Nup. You?"

"Nup." All of a sudden, his arm shot out to a passing waiter, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

He smiled nervously under Natsu's gaze. "Y-yes Sir? How may I help you?"

Natsu quickly shoved two pieces of paper under the waiter's nose. "Have you seen these two around anywhere? The cat is blue and the girl has blonde hair."

He took one look at them. "N-no, sorry. Ummmm… sirs … Would you like to order something?"

Dejected, Natsu removed the two pieces of paper. His eyes roved aimlessly over the menu before him. "Umm… get me a spicy sundae and…"

"And a lemon green tea thanks. With extra ice." Gray cut in smoothly.

"O-okay… your orders will be coming right up." With that, the waiter walked off, grateful to be out of their presence.

Out of curiosity, Gray reached for the two pieces of paper Natsu had thrown onto the table. As he unfolded it, a sudden chill ran down his back as he stared at the two pieces of paper, his eyes wide in surprise. Natsu noticed his hesitation.

"Oy, what are you so surprised about?"

There was a silence as Gray stared, almost transfixed at the two pieces of frayed paper. It was only after a minute of silence that he recovered. Shoving the pieces of paper into his rival's face, he indignantly glared at him. "Don't tell me… you went around the entire half of the town brandishing this sad excuse of a drawing in everyone's face."

Natsu grinned sheepishly. "Yeah."

Gray resisted the urge to face palm as he diverted his gaze back to the lead sketches on the two pieces of paper. The first was what looked like a crude drawing of a boulder with two unidentifiable objects sticking from its back, two small dots were drawn into the middle as eyes. The other was of a long, spindly figure who he supposed was Lucy. Her supposed hair was a long buzz cut, sticking in all directions. Two small dots on the top half represented her eyes. There were numerous smudges, creases and sketch lines on both papers as if the fire-mage had rubbed at the paper again and again. A small scorch was detected on the bottom corner of one of them.

It was no doubt Natsu Dragneel's work of art.

Natsu reached over to take the sketches back. Stuffing it into his pockets, he raised his eyebrow to Gray's look of disbelief. "What?"

"You went around asking people if they had seen those horrendous drawings, haven't you?"

"Yeah. So what?" Natsu shrugged his shoulders.

This time, Gray really did face-palm.

"Here are your orders." The same waiter arrived again, this time balancing a tray of two drinks in one hand. He seemed to have regained his composure.

Natsu immediately grabbed for them before poking a spoon into his sundae. "Thanks."

"Please enjoy." The waiter walked away.

"Any news of her and Happy?" Natsu dug eagerly into his treat, which was already half finished.

Gray took a sip from his drink. "Nope, no one saw her."

"Maybe, she left already."

"No, she can't have."

Natsu looked up, finishing his treat in a matter of seconds. "Why?"

"Unlike you, I did something productive and checked the train times. And she can't have left already since the last train to come by this town was two days ago and the next train would be in half a day. Can't you track her scent?"

"I tried. But I couldn't smell her. It's like she disappeared." Natsu promptly began to swing on his chair.

"I don't think she walked, bu-" Gray suddenly stopped as a loud voice came from the front door.

"Hey guys!"

The two turned around only to see a blonde haired teenager standing in the front door of the café. She was wrapped in a long cloak, which seemed to be new, her hood was up, covering the top of her head, leaving her face visible. Her blonde hair spilled from the hood and over her shoulders, covering a portion of her face. Her cloak opened slightly to reveal a white blouse and a dark blue skirt. But what were noticeable were her rather large breasts, which left much to the imagination.

But that wasn't the thing that surprised both Natsu and Gray. The thing that surprised them was that she was waving at them. Did she know them? They tensed as she made her way to their table.

"Erm…" Natsu nudged at Gray under the table. "Do you know her?" He mouthed.

Gray shook his head. "No." He mouthed back. He drew his attention back to the teenager who was making her way towards them. _She doesn't look too bad… not so plain, kinda pretty, huge assets. Hair needs more work… _He noted.

As she sat in an empty space on their table, she looked towards Natsu and Gray. "Hey what are you two doing here?"

Natsu frowned. Her scent was so familiar, but he was sure that he had never seen her before in his life. "Do I know you?" Her voice was very familiar as well.

Her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Seriously….?" She muttered more to herself. "Yes you should."

Gray took a sip of his drink still eying the strange woman warily.

Natsu on the other hand kept tilting his chair, sniffing the air around her. Yes, she definitely smelt familiar, but as much as he tried, Natsu couldn't pinpoint where he had seen her in his life. Ignoring his suspicions, he quickly reached into his pocket, yanking out two crumpled pieces of paper. Might as well ask this mysterious girl if she knew Happy and Lucy, he supposed.

"Anyways…" Straightening them out, he leaned over to the girl and shoved it into her face. Have you seen this girl and cat around? The girl has blonde hair and the cat has blue fur."

She raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is this?"

"Can't you see? It's a cat and a girl."

"You mean that strange boulder is a cat?" She quickly looked up to see Natsu giving her the most put-off look.

"Happy isn't a strange boulder. He's my friend."

"Uhhh…." She squinted her eyes. "What's the girl's name?"

"Lucy."

As soon as the name left his mouth, the girl had leaned across to him, whacking him squarely on the head.

"Owww…" Natsu held his head while Gray calmly took another sip of his drink.

"Idiots." The girl growled as she removed her hood, revealing a long cascade of messy, tangled blonde hair. She then brushed the hair from her face revealing hazel eyes that flashed angrily at them. "I'm Lucy." She huffed. "I just took a bath. Why could no one recognise me?"

_I'm Lucy._

_I'm Lucy._

That phrase reverberated in the two mage's minds as they stopped everything in surprise. The next few events however, happened simultaneously. Gray's eyes bulged as he spat out his drink, spraying all over Natsu, choking in surprise, leaving the table in a mess of spit and lemon, green tea. Natsu on the other hand, literally fell off the chair he was swinging on after being sprayed accurately by Gray from across the round table. A crash resounded on the tiled floor.

There was an awkward silence as the surrounding people stopped their chatter to stare at the commotion. The ice-mage was still choking on his own saliva while Natsu struggled on the floor, trying in vain to fix attach the leg of the broken chair back into place before anyone noticed. Through the thin silence, Lucy started to giggle despite the annoyance she had felt when they didn't recognise her. The two mages had looked so funny.

However, her giggling stopped abruptly as heavy footsteps sounded from deep inside the kitchens. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" A deep voice thundered.

The same waiter that had served the two mages cowered in a corner. "Oh no… That's the manager. What do I do…?"

Natsu and Gray exchanged the briefest of glances before fleeing. Natsu latched onto Lucy's arm dragging her with them.

"H-hey! I'm not a part of this." She protested as Natsu dragged her away from the small café.

Natsu looked back at her with a wide smile. "You are now. And I don't think we have enough money to pay for the broken chair." He thought for a moment. "And I'm glad you took a bath. You don't stink as much now."

Several veins popped on the celestial mage's forehead as she playfully whacked Natsu across his head. "Seriously…." She grumbled. "You and Happy are so alike that I sometimes think that you two are idiots together….." Her grumbling trailed off as a loud shout echoed from behind them.

"COME BACK YOU HOOLIGANS!"

**Thanks for reading!**

**And Sed is NOT an oc. Just saying…. He is NOT an oc. Keep that in mind.**

**And you may have noticed, I tried to make a lot of stuff funny but failed miserably. You probably just sat there reading going 'What the hell?'**

**And also, I am sad to say that I actually don't know when I would be updating next time cause I don't wanna say a deadline and then break it… It feels horrible and it makes me feel like a horrible person. So Minallys, who I had PMed the possible date of update… well I broke my promise and I'm sorry for that. (Sheepish grin.)**

**But if you are interested on when I will be updating, there is an update status on the bottom of my bio. But since I'm lazy, I will probably forget to change it so sometimes it isn't up to date so you need to check the chapter number.**

**That's all, Cya!**

**:)**


	11. The Makeshift Library

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or it's characters but i do own this plot and some OCs.**

**Okay, I have corrected this chapter and reposted it so that where some spacing used to be left out, i have now put them in. Also for the parts of this chapter where it used to end abruptly, i have also corrected that. Though I cannot be certain i have corrected everything, I have done everything to the best of my ability.**

** Once again, a big thanks to my lovely reviewers.**

**Editor: Pecha Pichu**

**Happy reading!**

Chapter 11- Do Not Turn A Bookshop Into A Library Unless You Want To Be Killed By The Shopkeeper.

A figure paced back and forth across the room, his muddy boots sinking into the plush carpet. Dim lighting filtered in weakly from the only window, casting the room in shadows. The figure paced rapidly, his rugged yet handsome features furrowing horribly into a worried frown. A couch lined neatly against one wall while pots of flowers decorated the spaces that seemed too barren. A wooden chair lay isolated next to the window while a large mahogany desk sat opposite it.

A second man lay stretched across the posh couch, idly stirring a cup of coffee. He was of a muscular structure with slicked back shoulder-length hair, whose color was undefined in the dim lighting. A couple of minutes passed with ease, as he raised his cup of murky liquid to his lips. His eyes trailed after the pale crystal which his pacing companion was holding tightly with clammy fingers. Almost sighing with exasperation, he knew he needed to stop this.

"Hey." He took a sip. "I think you need to calm down." He heard his voice sweep through the room, yet the pacing man displayed no indication that he had heard him but instead continued to pace restlessly, his rough fingers still gripping tightly onto the pale jade crystal in his man drew his fingers through his hair and rolled his eyes lazily as he placed his cup of coffee onto the glass coffee table with an audible clink. _Well that did nothing to help._

As he was about to speak again, the pacing figure stopped abruptly in front of the only window in the dark room so that his structure became a silhouette against the light that was pouring in from the window. His eyes softened considerably as he spoke, not to man directly, but into the darkness.

"I regret it." He loosened his hold on the jade crystal in his hand and instead began to rub his finger over its jagged surface tenderly. His short, trimmed hair played restlessly against his forehead as a cold draft entered from behind him.

"So you'd rather her here, a slave for the rest of her life." The man on the couch took another small sip of coffee.

The man that was still silhouetted against the window startled as though the words had pierced into him like a knife. "No… Of course not." He stepped away from the window only to sit himself into the wooden chair, his aged face bowed into the shadows.

"Then you did the right thing."

"But it's irreversible now." He drifted his gaze back to the jagged crystal in his hand, its pale jade colour contrasting against the darkness.

"Yes, it is." The other agreed before indicating at the crystal in his companion's fingers. "Just reminding you but… don't ever even think of breaking that."

"I know. You warned me before already."

"Under whatever circumstances you must not break it. It can- no it **will** be fatal for her."

"I know. I do not intend to destroy it."

"That's good to hear."

Silence.

The man on the couch drained away the last few drops in his cup. "You really need to stop this. It's not good for your age to stress out like this."

"It's unavoidable."

"It's been seven years already and it's always been this time of the year that you worry the most." The man stood up lazily, picking up his ceramic cup with two fingers, before walking briskly towards the man that sat next to the window. He placed a sturdy hand on the other's shoulder in a reassuring gesture. "But seriously, don't worry too much. I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is."

Releasing his grip, the man proceeded to walk into the wall next to the chair, which crumpled instantly into a newly made doorway. His reddish-orange hair was revealed as he walked out into the light with his hand held up in a goodbye gesture. He yelled over his shoulders. "Be sure to arrive early. We've got a mission to do."

Light streamed in immediately from the ruined portion of wall, revealing the dirty blonde hair of the man in the chair, short and trimmed to perfection. He tried to ignore his companion, his right eye twitching slightly in annoyance, but it was with the worry and stress weighing him down, he couldn't help but feel extremely irritated. After all, he did consider himself a pristine man who cared for appearances and first impressions. And constant rubbles-that-used-to-be-walls were definitely not on his list of perfection.

Now he had to fix the wall. Again. How many times had that man turned his wall to rubble again._45? Nah, much higher. 64? I think that was last year. 70? Yeah around that amount.I should definitely take up that offer to upgrade to magic resistant walls. But it would cost too much. Hmmm…_He made a mental note.

But his irritation softened as he remembered again, why he was feeling particularly depressed this morning._ Oh right. That was right. Today was the day…The day that…_ He finished the statement with an audible whisper.

"I dumped my daughter out to fend for herself."

…..

"Achoo!"

A heap of dust rose like a mushroom cloud from the floor where the sneeze was directed at.

Happy looked up from his pile of books. "Lucy? Are you okay?"

Lucy's eyes watered as she sniffled, her hair sticking to her forehead uncomfortably. "I'm fine." It was only a couple of seconds later that she sneezed yet again "Achoo!"

"Are you sure you're okay? You didn't catch a cold did you?"

Lucy looked up again to see Natsu's worried gaze as he carried a pile of books over to where they were sitting on the thin carpet, sandwiched between two looming shelves of ancient-looking books. An itching sensation nagged her nose as she tried to prevent herself from sneezing yet again. "No Natsu. I'm fine."

Cringing, she cursed at the amount of dust. She had never seen or felt such a large amount of dust before at one place since she had always lived outdoors.

All in all, the bookshop was a strange place for Lucy. There was enough light to see but it was extremely dim. If Lucy had to compare it to something it would be on par with lukewarm bathwater, warm enough so that the person won't feel cold but cold enough for the person to not feel warmth. It was exactly the same in the bookshop in terms of light. There was just enough light to see, but not enough to feel comfortable. The thin light struggled to stream in through the windows which were covered in old posters and advertisements while another source of dim light shone weakly from above where one lacrima latched onto the ceiling. Its blue surface cracked in the centre.

While the interior of the ancient bookshop was several times superior to its lighting, it lacked the usual grace and delicacy of a stereotypical bookshop. Bookshelves loomed in uneven rows along the back of the dusty shop, the last few rows of the line tilted over each other in a domino effect, the contents spilling out onto the thin green carpet, layered with dust and grit. The carpet felt like tough moss on top of concrete when they sat down. But, despite the poor arrangements, the ancient-looking books that they possessed were qualified in information which granted the shop its business, despite the shifty appearances of the majority which seemed to fall apart at touch.

An old shopkeeper with hacking coughs had greeted them when they had gone in, her eyes greedy for the lust of money. Her deranged eyes, a dry rusty red, looked to them, her gaze threatening them secretly. _You people better be buying. I don't want no window shoppers around. If you are a window shopper, you better be preparing your funeral._ The thoughts emanated from her as she spoke with her steely gaze. Gulping down their fears, the group had nodded shakily to the old woman before positively sprinting to the furthest aisle, away from the scary old woman.

But they didn't come to buy books. They had come to research. To research on the strange occurrence that happened on the Hanna Trail. They were just supposed to, in Natsu's terms, 'practically camp out in the bookshop and read their books' and then leave without buying anything. However, one beady look from the shopkeeper had shaken their resolve. They were going to die by the hands of an old woman.

Another round of coughs echoed throughout the shop causing Lucy to whip her head around the large bookshelf to glance at the old shopkeeper, reassuring herself that the old woman wouldn't suddenly barge their way. Wiping her hands messily onto her new traveling cloak, she quickly rubbed at her nose, her eyes watering slightly as she scanned the heavy books in her lap.

Some were old, tattered and pierced together with layers of dusty tape while some others looked pretty new, except for the occasional rips and stains. However, all possessed an aura of magic and mystery. She glanced at the tittles next to her, reading them slowly, each word echoing into her brain.

'The Concepts of Illusion', 'A Guide to Illusion Magic', 'Trick or Treat, The Ultimate Book of Illusion Magic'.

She wasn't illiterate thanks to her spirits but there were some words she didn't understand or some things she didn't know. She was the exceptionally grateful to her spirits, who taught her all she needed to know, including how to write, read and other helpful techniques. A smile rose to her lips as she remembered the hours and hours of tutoring she had had with her spirits, especially Virgo. But it was troublesome, as her tutors constantly swapped over due to their inability to reside in the real world for too long. Also, it left Lucy completely drained every night as it required a large amount of magic power to summon a spirit.

Lucy sighed as a smile tugged at her lips. _Aquarius used to get really pissed every time I summoned her from somewhere weird._ She giggled softly to herself. _Like when I summoned her to a drain filled with snails._ Her giggling stopped abruptly as she suddenly realised how scary that actually was for her little self. How she almost lost her life that night. _Not really…But it's so nostalgic. Like when Virgo-_

"By the way, did you get the cloak from Virgo as well? It looks pretty durable."

Lucy was jolted from her thoughts as Natsu sat down, before placing a large stack of books into his lap. After glancing at the Lucy's cloak, he leaned over to finger the material, a smirk present on his face. "Good quality as well." He observed. To Lucy's surprise, he sniffed it.

_Hey what the-?_

"But it doesn't smell like you."

"You smell it?" Lucy raised her eyebrow. _What is he, a dog?_

"Yeah." Natsu replied indignantly. "Didn't you know that Dragon Slayers have much better senses than normal humans?"

This, Lucy was surprised at, as she began to finger the material herself. "Really? I didn't know that."

"Well, fun fact for you then." He grumbled.

Lucy smiled warmly as she fingered the cloth. The cloak was easily the best piece of clothing she had ever had, even with the inclusion of the clothes Virgo gets for her from the Spiritworld. The material was coarse under her fingers, but it was warm, unlike her last one with deep pockets that guaranteed instant warmth. The exterior of the cloak was coarse, rough to touch, yet when she flipped it over; the interior was soft and smooth. It was of a simple design, much alike her past one, minus the tatters and rips. It was also perfectly symmetrical save for an obvious stain ranging from the chest to the helm. A dark splash of colour on a plain brown piece of clothing.

"Did you steal it?"

"Nup." She rubbed half-heartedly at the stain with her fingers. "It was given."

"Really? That's really nice of that person then."

"Yeah. You see this huge stain?" She pointed at the dark stain in front of the cloak. "This stain is-"

Before she finished her sentence, Natsu had leaned in and sniffed it before confirming. "Blackberry juice." He looked up, his eyes filled with curiosity. "Where did you get the blackberry juice?"

Lucy felt her eye twitch as she remembered a particular nasty event from this morning. Her voice came out nasally and quite annoyed while she felt the tickling sensation in her nose again. "Will you let me finish my sentences before sticking your nose in? And I meant it quite literally."

He shut up, almost causing Lucy to feel guilty when she knew that she snapped at him for no reason.

Lucy sighed. "This morning when you people were still sleeping, Happy and I went out for a walk." Her eyes settled on Happy while throwing him a quick glare to which he didn't notice. "Don't ask me where I got the blackberry juice-"

Happy, unaware of the implied threat, interrupted, raising his paw. "For some reason she tried to hit me-"

Lucy felt a vein pop as she mustered the scariest glare she could find onto her face. "It's your fault." _It was so embarrassing._

"-and I dodged so she missed and kicked the vendor machine behind me but that isn't the funny bit." Happy placed a paw on his mouth in poorly disguised laughter. "Then some old ladies walked pass and thought Lucy was trying to break the machine to get a drink so they lectured her for half an hour and then bought the drink for her." He then turned to Natsu, whispering the next few lines before erupting into small giggles. "Lucy is weird don't you think Natsu?" Unfortunately for him, Lucy still heard it as she glared at the immature teen and cat sniggering away.

She didn't know how she did it but she managed to control her anger to prevent herself from exploding at the innocent looking cat_. Yeah… innocent my ass. _Taking a deep breath, she continued her story before she was interrupted. "Anyways, you remember Sed? The guy that always had his hood up?"

Natsu nodded.

"Well, for some reason, he was rushing and he ran into me and then I accidently spilt the drink onto his cloak. That is the stain here." She pointed at the stain. "Of course I apologised and-"

"Wait… That cloak is his?" Natsu asked before leaning back. "I knew it smelt familiar."

"Yeah, yeah." Lucy waved it off. "And then he gave me his cloak and said something about a gift as an apology for running into me. He was surprisingly generous."

"And?" Natsu pressed on.

Lucy looked at him. "And what?"

"Did you see his face?" Natsu leaned in excitedly like a child about to unwrap a present. "Maybe there's a reason why he doesn't show his face. Maybe he secretly has some weird distorted feature like a long nose or curly eyebrows?" **_(1)_**

Lucy ignored the imagery that somehow stuck to her mind. "Sorry to disappoint but no, he had another cloak under which covered his face.

"Another cloak?" Natsu's face fell, like the lights of a Christmas tree which had its plug pulled out.

"Why he had two cloaks on, I don't know." Lucy placed a finger to her lips. "Maybe as a precaution?" _It's just strange._

"Damn." Natsu smashed his fist into the thin green carpet of the book shop and a cloud of dust rose in a mushroom cloud formation.

"Oy."Lucy looked up as Gray towered over them with a stack of dusty books in his arms. "Less talking, more researching. My life is on the line here."

"Hey!" Natsu stood up instantly, the books on his lap falling noisily onto the carpet. "My life is on the line here too, you selfish stripper."

"Newsflash, no one cares."

"You-"

"Gotta problem? Huh?"

_Not this again…_ If they were at a different location, at a different time, with a different objective, she wouldn't have minded the fight but they weren't so she knew she needed to stop this. "Cut it out you two, it's been less than twenty four hours and you're already fighting again. Seriously, we've got more important stuff to worry about. If you start a fight here, they'll kick us out." She watched faintly with amusement as the two oh-so-mature men sat down grudgingly, still glaring holes at one another.

Lucy sighed. _They're like children in adult form. _"Really guys. Stop it."

More glaring.

Fortunately the shopkeeper took this time to cough, startling the duo when an unpleasant memory of her unspoken threat echoed in their minds.

"Okay." Gray swallowed. "Let's get this finished fast so we can get out of here."

He took out a notebook from nowhere and began listing the things that they had discussed earlier.

"Right. So the reason for all this is to claim our life span back. Simple." He looked around. "But the problem is that we don't know how to, we don't know how that woman managed to 'steal'" He put up quotation marks with his fingers. "Our life span and most importantly, we don't know what that woman is at all."

He took a deep breath.

"So what we know is that the woman is an illusion mage, she somehow took our lifespan and she only attacks males."

He took another breath.

"Bit sexist if you ask me."

"Err Gray?" Lucy tentatively raised her hand up. "Can we call the 'woman'" She made quotation marks with her fingers, "Something else cause it's really confusing if we keep referring her to as The Woman."

"Gabriel." Natsu chipped in. "I remember she told us to call her Gabriel."

"Woman, Gabriel whatever. Our mission today is to research magic, especially magic concerning illusion or life matters. Got that?" He looked around to see the other three nodding their heads. "If this is a spell, we might need to find out how to break the spell."

"Maybe it's an ancient spell since Gabriel was said to have lived a long time ago." Lucy suggested.

At her statement, Natsu suddenly began rummaging through the stack of old books that he had taken. "Hey, wait a minute." After a couple of minutes, he pulled out a particularly dusty, leather book, its spine bound with rotten vines. Natsu quickly flipped it open with quiet triumph, flipping through the pages. "Ah, found it!"

Lucy and Gray leaned in simultaneously while Happy jumped up to perch himself on Natsu's head.

"It's a more detailed version of the legend that the old lady told us." He explained as he swatted away the dust cloud that emerged from the depths of the book.

Gray scanned the page. "It still seems the same."

As Lucy racked her brains, she couldn't help but wonder. "Hey guys? If she was bound to the forest as a human, after a long time and she still hasn't died yet, would she be human or something else?"

"I don't know, this doesn't make sense." Natsu scratched his head. "So she was bound to a forest and then she wanted to escape so she burnt it down which failed cause the forest just took a part of her soul and rebuilt itself. And then she couldn't die completely because her soul was a part of the forest and if the forest lives then so does she." Natsu said in one breath. "Is she a ghost then?"

"No. If she did take other people's lifespans then she probably used it for herself, using some kind of magic. But she is definitely an illusion mage, and it's very rare to use magic which is not your specialty." Lucy frowned slightly.

"Illusion mage huh…? Yeah, I think so too." Natsu closed the ancient book gently, placing it onto the carpet.

Gray scratched his nose. "How about we split up the roles?"

Lucy was fine with it. "Okay."

"Aye!"

"Who made you the boss?" A low grumble.

"Lucy, you look up some books on illusion magic, Natsu, you look up some books on the supposed legend and Happy, you look up some books on… just anything will be fine."

"Aye!" Happy flew off, his wings the layers of dust on the shelves, effectively causing a small tornado. Natsu grudgingly followed after him.

Lucy turned to Gray who was already buried nose deep in a large book. She bent her head awkwardly to read the title. 'Lifespan And It's Uses'.

"So, I'm guessing you're gonna research how she stole your life span?" Lucy quickly picked up a book, 'The Concepts Of Illusion'. Flipping it open quickly, she was met with a face full of dust. She cringed slightly. _Who knows the last time this was used?_

"Yeah." Gray answered, still concentrated in his book.

Buried in her own book, Lucy vaguely noticed the arrival of Natsu and Happy as the four of them sat quietly in the aisle, dust settling on them like snow. It was a peaceful silence, broken occasionally by the hacking coughs of the shop keeper, the page flips and the occasional ring of the bell as customers came in and out. The sensation built up again and Lucy had to sneeze yet again. _Stupid dust, stupid bookshop. I curse you._ Lucy thought dryly as she wiped her hands on her cloak again, careful not to get any onto the books.

The book shop was dusty, yet layered with a heavy scent of paper undermined by a faint smell of sweetness. Layers upon layers of dust lined the shelves, releasing bombs of dust when disturbed. Spiders crawled in and out of books while posters, yellow with age covered the windows so that the thin light that shone through was a sickly yellow hue.

Lucy flipped open to the first page gingerly, touching the corners with her fingertips to gently flip the page. It seemed like the paper would crumple if she handled it too roughly. Sighing, she began to read.

An hour passed, while the three mages and one cat worked independently on the carpet, hidden from view by the large, towering shelves of ancient books.

Another hour passed. Happy had shuffled over to lean against Lucy's side. Deeply absorbed into the book, it was only two hours later that she was interrupted.

"Hey Lucy! This looks like your bag!"

"Huh?" Lucy looked over to see Happy waving his blue paw at her, the other paw pointing to the page of what seemed to be like a picture book. Under closer inspection as she leaned in, she discovered it was in fact a rather thick fact book of magical items. The book itself was pretty new in comparison to the others she had encountered, consisting of a dusty leather cover featuring a rose pattern of crimson while the pages were a slight tint of yellow.

"See?" Happy tapped his paw to a realistically drawn picture on the side, identical in all aspects to the side bag that hung loosely from Lucy's shoulders. Squinting, Lucy quickly scanned the words that resided next to the picture.

_Side Bag_

_There is no specific name for this kind of item; however it is immensely useful to travellers and merchants alike. Its properties include the ability to carry objects ten times its size and volume. Also, due to the making of this item, its material is currently unknown yet it is said to possess the durability of a dragon's scale. A major disadvantage of this item includes the fact that while it has the ability to carry objects much greater than itself, the bag does not alter its weight, providing inconvenience for weaker people. _

_Its history dates back to the late centuries when a village off the coast of-_

Lucy stopped reading at this point when the picture on the opposite page caught her attention. It was a simple crystal like orb, with a jagged surface. Its pale green colour, the lightest green she had ever seen, seemed to glow in the drawing. It was so simple, yet so mesmerising. In other words, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Her eyes quickly scanned its information.

_Seal (Fourth Generation)_

_The Seal of the fourth generation has been improved from the First, Second and Third in many ways. As the current seal in use, it has the ability to seal things of a variety from power to human functions such as voice or sight. However, this object is like a double-edged blade as the seal cannot be fully undone without consequences on the living creature or human it was cast on. Some may even result in death. When activated, the seal can only be used once and can be able to stop several things in several categories, yet it has never been fully tested for its range due to the limited supplies. Its-_

"I remember now. "It was a soft mumble.

Lucy stopped reading and looked up immediately to see the deep frown on Gray's face. He seemed to be mumbling to himself, deep in concentration.

"Gray?" Lucy glanced at Gray with a confused expression on her face. She had never seen Gray like this before. Her first impression of him had been calm and somewhat cool, yet that first impression would be wiped away immediately when he stripped or started fighting childishly with Natsu. But through the multiple faces he had on, Lucy had never seen him like this before, so serious.

The current Gray (by some miracle) had managed to dress decently today, his long white coat crumpled slightly where he leaned against the shelf. The ice-make mage's dark hair hung over his glazed eyes as he sat still, where only his lips moved as he mumbled to himself.

All of a sudden he jumped up. He swiped through book after book with a hurried frenzy before spying the book in Lucy's hands with a manic look.

"Give me that!" His voice was deep with a certain authority while his actions betrayed his calmness. Without waiting for an answer he tore the book from Lucy's grip and flipped through it rapidly, pausing now and then to digest the information on the page.

"Gray…?" Lucy watched with a confused expression. _Is… he okay?_

Natsu watched Gray with the same confusion as Lucy, frowning slightly at the ice-mage's unusual behaviour. "Oy, oy… Are you okay?" He leaned forward tentatively to poke Gray several times in the shoulder, before whipping back as if expecting a barrage of punches from the other for provoking him. He was completely taken by surprise as the dark-haired man acted as though nothing happened.

He ignored him.

Gray, who would normally react towards anything that would spark a fight with Natsu, ignored his provoke.

That in itself is a rather large issue.

Happy was worried. He was very worried. "Natsu…. He ignored it." He stated slowly, startled by this revelation as if he couldn't believe it. "He ignored your poke Natsu." The inner mind of Happy skydived into turmoil._What is wrong with him? Did he get possessed? Oh no! What if he got possessed? I knew there was something fishy in this shop when we came in! I knew it! This is the first time I've ever seen Gray not fight with Natsu when given the chance. What do I do? What do I do? _

"I've got it." Gray slowly raised his head as if waking from a trance, his dark hair still hung in his eyes. With an annoyed expression his brushed it to the side while mumbling something on the lines of 'I should cut it soon". As he swiped his hair from his eyes, his expression changed dramatically as he noticed the horrified looks Natsu were giving him while supressing a tick mark at Lucy's _He's Gone Mental_ expression. He didn't even want to know why Happy seemed to be hyperventilating.

"What?" His voice was indifferent, calculating while his mind was trying to deduce what he had done to deserve such… interesting looks in his direction.

"A-are you okay?" Natsu spoke softly as if speaking to child, cautious as if he was dealing with a completely different person.

This time, a tick mark really did appear on his forehead. He felt it. _Why the hell is he acting like I'm some two year old kid with a balloon? _"Flame-Breath. Go to hell." He shot out his left arm in a punch to the pink-head's face only to miss by millimetres as he dodged. From where he sat, he could hear the sighs of relief from both Happy and Natsu.

_What the hell is going on? What did I do?_ Gray wondered. _Let's see… I suddenly remembered where I saw that hourglass… I took the book that Lucy was holding… then I read it… Is there anything unusual with that? _He was taken back into reality when the whisperings of Happy became apparent as he had crawled over to Natsu and were currently discussing something, glancing now and then in Gray's direction. Obviously they were talking about him.

Gray strained his ears only to catch a few words in the exchange.

"…knew… fish….… possessed… Gray…scary…"

_I was… possessed… by a fish? _His eyebrow shot up. _What the hell?_ How Happy came to that conclusion, he'll never know.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat. "While you guys were reading, I suddenly remembered something." He looked around to catch Natsu's gaze. "Natsu. Do you remember the random facts that Gramps used to tell us?"

"Nah… not really. It was ages ago."

"When I was reading this book," He picked out a worn book from the pile on the floor. "I remembered. How Gramps told us there was an item which can steal life span from someone and give it to someone else."

Natsu blinked. "Come to think of it… Gramps did say something like that."

"Yeah. It's the hourglass. The hourglass that was situated in the centre of the table when we were there." He clenched his fist hard, so hard that his knuckles turned white. "And then, it was sucking away our life, all that time, ever since she turned it over."

"That's why it seemed so familiar back then, cause Gramps had actually shown us a drawing of it back then… but the colouring was slightly different." Natsu placed his fingers to his chin.

A soft voice broke through their deductions. "Um… I want to ask. This item… How does it work?" Lucy sat still, her facial features pulled into a small frown.

"Read this." Gray handed the book he was flipping through back to Lucy who took it gingerly.

_Hourglass_

_The hourglass is an extremely powerful magic item which possesses the ability to grant someone immortality. This is an illegal item, banned from existence since the early centuries by all kingdoms across the world. However, it is said that these are sold today at high prices in the Black Market. It also said that this item was made accidently when a witch dropped an hourglass into a cauldron of unknown mixture which then spilt into the fire. But it is true that it is being made, even today under the blind spots of the ruling kingdoms._

_In order for this item to work, the possessor must place a certain amount of blood within the hourglass, where it would slowly be absorbed by the item. It is necessary to refill when empty. In order to steal lifespan, the hourglass affects a certain radius when activated. When activated, the item will continue to suck on the life spans of the living humans in its area until the humans leave or if they die._

_The procedure is however, reve-_

Lucy squinted at the words on the yellowed page which were undefined. An unknown liquid seemed to have spilt on it causing the rest of the page to become unreadable. No matter how much she straightened the page, the words were too blurred to be read. Looking up, she tuned into the current conversation.

Gray swiped the hair from his eyes. "So we've got the information. What do we do now?"

Natsu sat scratching his head, messing up his already messed up hair. "I think we should storm in and bash that person up!"

"She can be a ghost." Happy piped up.

Lucy felt another sneeze build up at the back of her throat. Eyes watering, she swiped at the dusty air in front of her before clamping tightly onto her nose. It proved futile.

"A-achoo!" Lucy sneezed, interrupting the conversation.

"Lucy, are you sure you didn't catch a cold?"

"No, Natsu." Rubbing her nose tiredly, she was startled when a croaky voice, dry from the amount of coughing, croaked at them from behind. Even without looking, Lucy could sense the murderous aura from behind her. Shakily she turned her head to the sickly sweet voice with a kind of horror she had never known. A sort of horror that far surpassed the feeling of fear that she gets as a thief. _Shit! I forgot about the time._

"The shop is about to close children." The shopkeeper smiled scarily at them, her blunt canines bared at them, while her eyes were of murderous intent. "Would you be purchasing all that?" She indicated to the mess of books on the floor with a sharpened nail which glinted in the dim lighting.

"Umm…" Lucy panicked, desperately thinking of an escape. Looking around at the others, she knew they were thinking of the same thing. How to get out of this situation without dying at the hands of this crazy shopkeeper who had a thing against window shoppers. Then again, she had to supressed a giggle at the identical facial expressions of the other three, surprised and panicked. Yet she shouldn't really be finding this humorous as she was most likely wearing the same expression as everyone else.

_Shit. Shit._ She thought desperately. _I really don't wanna die at such a young age. _Thinking back, she knew this was a risk_. Seriously which shopkeeper would be happy if some kids turned his/her bookshop into a library? I mean I would definitely have killed them if I was the shopkeeper. Think, Think._

How can they get out of this…? Tell the truth? Well they can't exactly tell the shopkeeper that they had been using her bookshop as a makeshift library. They'll be killed instantly "Ummm…." _Think, think! _She racked her brains._ I got it_!

Her lips parted to speak when a warm hand clasped over her own. All of a sudden she was dragged backwards, stumbling as she stood up. Looking backwards, Natsu's back was to her, his pink hair flying as he burst into a frantic run, zigzagging through the shelves of books, his right hand still holding on tightly to Lucy's. He turned back only to smile shakily at the old shopkeeper to which Lucy had to stifle a dry laugh._ He's definitely scared. He's definitely afraid to die. He's not fooling anyone. _A fleeting sensation piled onto her stomach._ Why do I get the feeling that I'm sacrificing someone here?_

"We'll be back!" He shouted over his shoulders as he, Lucy and Happy rushed out of the dingy shop.

Smiling guiltily, Lucy looked over her shoulders as she ran, only to see Gray's panic-stricken face of horror, burst into alarm as they left him alone to fend for himself.

_Ehehe… Sorry Gray... Take care. I'll prepare you funeral for you._

When they were a good ten metres away, she stopped to catch her breath, panting heavily. There was a split second of silence.

"Do you think he's dead?"

"Don't say that, Natsu." Happy replied.

Looking back, the shop was still visible from a distance. She stood there waiting as a cold wind blew. Waiting for an ice mage to walk out the wooden door, hopefully unscathed from an angry shopkeeper. They stood there waiting. Waiting.

Waiting.

"Maybe he got caught and stuffed inside a magic book." Natsu licked his lips. "That way, we won't even have body to bury."

"Don't say that, Natsu." Happy repeated, his tiny voice laced with worry.

Another few minutes passed like days.

"Maybe he will be forced to work there forever? Never to see daylight again?"

"Don't sa-"

BANG! Happy was interrupted as the door slammed open with the force of a small explosion, accompanied by the soft tinkling of the doorbell.

A horror-stricken Gray hurried out of the shop, eyeing around for his so called friends who had ditched him, a permanent glare settling on his face as soon as he saw them.

The door had slammed shut right after Gray hurried out, its doorbell falling to the ground from the force of the slam. It didn't take a genius to know that the shopkeeper wasn't happy. Meanwhile, Lucy smiled guiltily, relieved that her friend was okay as he hurried towards them with a harsh glare. _Ahahaha… well we pretty much did sacrificed him…_

"DID YOU PEOPLE JUST SACRIFICE ME?"

_Wow… he read my mind._

Gray, as usual was bare-chested which as a result attracted several appreciative looks and mutterings from the people in his surroundings. Lucy almost choked when she heard an old man mutter something about the ways in which youngsters attract women these days. Yet it was true, only that Gray wasn't doing it on purpose. Gray himself remained oblivious to the attention he was receiving and instead rampaged at them as he approached in his naked glory. _Naked glory… Wait… wasn't he wearing something like five minutes ago?_

"HOW CAN YOU JUST DITCH ME-?"

"Hey, Gray?" Lucy asked, ignoring the guilt piling onto her stomach as she interrupted his rampage. "Weren't you wearing something just a few minutes ago?" _He has every right to yell at us._

Gray stopped in mid-sentence and looked at himself. "Gah!" He yelled loudly, attracting even more unwanted attention.

As if on cue, the door of the bookshop swung open again with a loud creak, and pieces of undefined materials were thrown out onto the streets before the door slammed shut again. There was a silence, as the materials started to catch the wind, blown down the alleyway like a plastic bag.

It took about a second before everyone realised what they were. "Pfft…"

Gray glared at Natsu and Happy whom were both snorting with undisguised laughter. Even Lucy was given the glare as she unsuccessfully tried to cover up her mirth with the palm of her hand.

"Shut up." He muttered darkly before positively fleeing to the front of the store where his clothes lay crumpled on the ground, about to be swept away by the strong winds.

**Poor Gray... Anyways thanks for reading!**

**_(1)_**** Also I've made a reference to One Piece in this (Sanji's eyebrows and Usopp's nose) ****_I do not own._**

**Also chapter 12 is on its way :)**

**Cya! :D**


	12. Lost

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. The plot is mine though.**

**A/N: Hello there! I have finally updated!** **Anyways, I would like to say thank you to all the people who dropped a review, favourite or followed in the last few months. So, thanks :) **

**Also, since it has been so long since I last updated, do any of you readers think I should put a short recap at the front? If so, just drop it in a review or pm me and I'll put it in :)**

**Editor: Pecha Pichu**

**Happy Reading!**

Chapter 12- Lost

"Mmmm…" Lucy hummed as she gently flipped a page, squinting slightly at the lack of light. The weathered, yellow-washed corners of the book seemed to crumple under her fingertips as she flipped another page, her body quickly adjusting to the rocking motion around her as well as the ever-changing amount of light that she received. Deep in concentration, a soft smile tugged at her lips.

_Wow I never realised these actually existed._ Inwardly, she was like a little girl, squealing out at every new discovery she had made, eager to know more about the outside world. She smiled once more before turning another page. Focusing intently, she ignored the increasing noise levels that seeped into her space from outside. It all became a soft hum to her ears.

_Hmmm… a hat that shrinks the bearer's head? Interesting… I wonder if it shrinks everything in ratio…_

However, the rising noise levels outside were determined to annoy her, poking and shoving at her patience until the small hums became distinguished words. Still, the celestial mage ignored it, and insisted mentally to concentrate on book in front of her. Swallowing mildly, she read on to the next page.

_**-has dark red as its predominant color, but also sports orange and black parts, with the orange parts being shaped like flames and the other parts being reminiscent of-**_

"Never underestimate my nose and instincts, Stripper."

_**-dragon's limbs. It is basically made up of three different parts: the breastplate, the gauntlets and the greaves. The Flame Empress Armor-**_

"Yeah. Look at where that nose of yours had taken us. I, at least have better direction, knowledge _and_ instincts and I say we should have taken an eastern route."

_**-also has an ability of flame resistance which will lower the power of flame attacks by 50%.-**_

"You moron of an ice block- we _are_ heading east!"

"If we were going east then we should have been back at the trail two hours ago! You idiot!"

_**-This armor also grants the user the power to wield fire and manipulate it to their advantage-**_

"Well your calculations are off!"

"_You're_ the one that is off!"

Lucy twitched as the voices rose steadily, echoing noisily even through the walls of her shelter. She blanched, an unpleasant memory rising to her mind. She wanted to shout at them, to tell them to shut up, but her vocals didn't seem to be working well. Slowly, she tried to sink into her book once more, hoping that they'll lower their volume. Poor Horologium didn't need a shower of bird poop.

Indeed the two child-like teenagers had been causing a racket for the last two or so hours, arguing back and forth. They had made such a commotion that throughout the last hours, the bird species resting overhead had revealed themselves, squawking indignantly at their much disturbed peace and quiet before flying away. They were also generous to leave behind a parting gift of bird droppings and ruffled feathers.

Lucy's distaste could easily be distinguished on her face as she remembered her first encounter of these birds. At a heightened syllable of Natsu's argument, a large lump of gunk had bulleted a dangerous distance from her foot and splattered over her shoe. Stray feathers had also drifted down like snow, littering the mud with an assortment of colors. A large gunk had hit Gray squarely in the head, which he had promptly frozen before scraping it gingerly from his hair with clean swipes. She didn't know if it was Natsu's dumb luck or skill, but he managed to escape from the nightmare unscathed, Happy escaping with him in the process. It was because of this ordeal that Lucy had felt the need to summon her loyal spirit, Horologium, which she was currently residing in. So far there hadn't been another shower, but there was always the possibility that put her on guard.

Suppressing her annoyance, she licked her cracked lips before running a hand through her blonde hair. Hazel eyes darted as an unwelcome chill began its journey down the length of her spine that had nothing to do with the current temperature. She blinked once and swallowed, feeling her saliva trickle thickly down her throat.

It had been over five hours since they had re-entered the Hanna Trail from Mazesan Town's side. It had been over four hours since they had strayed off the path and over another three hours since they began encountering a seemingly unending path of dark, dense shrubbery, sky-high trunks of molding wood and wet mud oozing beneath their feet. In Natsu's terms, their plan had been simple: lure out the woman, bash her up then get her to give their life-force back. Piece of cake.

Not.

When they re-entered the trail, it was worse than the first time. Mossy trees and spiraling leaves dripped with thin slime, fresh from recent rains while the muddy ground practically exuded poison. The cold and damp atmosphere seemed to suck at their warmth, sapping away their strength bit by bit. Even with a thick cloak, Lucy had felt the chills soak through the fabric and onto her skin. The atmosphere was tense and heavy as if the gravity had been strengthened ten-fold. Occasionally, there would also be shrill cries of unknown beasts, echoing through the depths of the forest. The cries would echo at such frequency that would send chills cascading through her nerves, causing her movements to become stiff and robotic. Along with these conditions, there had also been two major occurrences.

One of these was the fact that an unknown stranger had been watching them and secondly, a mysterious wave of magic. But, what concerned Lucy the most was the first incident which had occurred about half an hour into their journey.

As Lucy leant heavily against the walls, the vivid image brushed across her mind again, composed from her sighting and chunks of imagination. It was her that had noticed the figure that crouched stealthily in the low branches of a tall tree, staring at them with sharp eyes. Even with the dark lighting, Lucy had made out a shaggy outline of ruffled dark hair and a lean structure draped in a cloak. But the strangest thing had been its face. She didn't get a good look but she swore that one half of its face had been darker than the other. Or maybe it was her imagination…

The glimpse had been so swift that she had to convince herself that there had indeed been a figure staring at them. Honestly, it scared her to know that they were being followed. Lucy involuntarily shivered before pressing herself against the back of the wooden wall. Worry laced into her thoughts as she contemplated. What if it was the lady that had caused them so much trouble? What if she was checking on their progress? What if she planned to kill them at any time? Lucy shook her head quickly as if to dispel those thoughts. This figure had merely stood in the shadows. It couldn't mean harm to them. At least not yet. Was it a spy? But then, who would want to spy on them?

Of course she had tried to convey this to her comrades; however they had only stared at her with serious expressions before passing it off as stress induced paranoia. They just didn't believe her. Unconsciously, she clenched her right fist as bottled up anger surged through her in one wave.

"_I believe you, but it could have just been an animal or something. I've heard there are unknown beasts in here."_

No! It was definitely a human being.

Natsu's voice managed to sneak in._ "Maybe you were seeing things? You know…? Hallucinations?"_

She was not seeing things! Seriously, shouldn't he have smelt it? Or maybe the scent of the forest was overwhelming his nose? But regardless, she knew that she had definitely seen the stranger, even for a fraction of a second… She frantically shook her head again and instead focused on the second strange incident.

The second incident had occurred a while after the first. It was strange, out of place and completely unexpected. They had been trudging along the trail when a powerful surge of magic had swept through the nearby area, originating from the depths on their left. It had been a heavy aura of magic that rolled over them, so strong that the surrounding trees in the area had ruffled violently in protest. Lucy, herself had been knocked back slightly while poor Happy had been sent flying a few metersback into a tree trunk.

It was this incident that had caused them to stray from the trail in the first place. Arguably, the wave of magic had opened up a new lead. With a short debate, the group had agreed to track the source of the mysterious wave, with Natsu swearing several times that they would not get lost with Happy around, reasoning that Happy would be able to fly up and determine their location. Guess what?

They got lost.

But the incident had definitely been strange. Was someone fighting in this cold forest? Was it a code for them or did they just stumbled across it by coincidence? Lucy frowned in concentration_. _Could it be related to the figure she saw?

As Lucy pondered, Happy sighed dryly as he beat his wings tiredly, reluctant to walk barefoot onto the vine infested mud. He didn't like this forest. It was dense, cold, and generally gave off an unknown aura of darkness. Now that they had left the trail, the ground was a muddy mess of moist thickness, unknown things and tiny bones and flesh that must have begun decomposing at an incredible rate. Thick pearly roots could be seen sticking out of the forest floor, curling up around other tree trunks like snakes as if in attempt to kill competition.

The trees grew thicker, with moldy bark that housed hundreds of unidentified insects and bugs alike. Plants and leaves formed a strong blanket in the tree tops, which covered the entire forest, leaving the forest floor almost completely devoid of light. Even the tiniest rays of light that had managed to sneak through were greedily absorbed by the unfortunate greenery surviving on the forest floor.

Beating his wings in such a heavy atmosphere felt like beating through molasses. The chill consumed him completely, leaving body numb. Moreover, the overpowering stench of sickening sweetness tugged at his poor nose, causing him to pity Natsu's sensitive nose.

Happy gave an involuntary shudder as the cold and chill smothered his skin like wet paper. Both Natsu and Gray seemed too involved with their banter to notice the undermining threat in the air. The dark atmosphere shifted like clouds, covering the area as both Natsu and Gray's voices echoed dully through the air. His breath misted while he exhaled, rubbing two blue paws to his breath in an effort to warm up. _I want to eat fish…_His way of thinking was simple, like it always had been.

_And I'm tired._

Without another thought, Happy put on a slight burst of speed in his flight, his tired wings beating unevenly as he made his way to his longtime partner. He gradually slowed down as he approached, hovering overthick strands of pink hair. He sighed before flopping onto Natsu's head with a soft flump, relief echoing through his weary body. Unfortunately for him, he unintentionally breathed in the greasy scent of Natsu's hair, causing him to choke silently before frowning in disapproval.

_Natsu needs to wash his hair…_

"Ah, Happy!"

Happy startled a bit at his loud voice. "Natsu… I want to eat fish." He drawled, reaching out a tired paw to scratch at his head.

Natsu smiled at his usual antics. "Don't you always?"

Meanwhile, Lucy was absorbed once again into her book- the book that she had unintentionally stolen from the bookshop a few days ago. Honestly. It was completely accidental. She had forgotten that she was holding it when Natsu had dragged her from the bookshop, effectively taking the book along with her. She smiled guiltily. Oh well, what was done is done. She could not exactly go back in and say, 'Miss, I accidently stole your book, you can have it back now.' The shopkeeper would probably murder her then chuck her remains into an old book.

She hadn't noticed it before, but now when she became familiar to the book, she noticed it was surrounded in a mysterious magical sheen, almost like a small barrier. On rare occasions, it could be seen: a faint shine of the palest green surrounding the tome in a rounded dome. It was only early this morning that Lucy had discovered its use. She had been reading when an entire paragraph disappeared, only to be replaced by another set of words in the same fashion. It had been then that she realized that the book was self- updated. But Lucy soon realized that even though, the contents of the book changed, the book itself would stay old. For example, if a page was deemed as unreadable because of a spilt liquid, it would not be renewed when the contents on that page was updated. Most likely, every time that something happens in the world, the related information to its contents would be updated magically.

Currently, Lucy was focused on the profile of yet another amazing magical item. Heaven's Wheel Armor, it was called.

_**-and metal breast plates. The lower half of this armor consists of large metal plates that surround the waist in a decorative fashion, lying on a long skirt. Attachments to this set of armor include its boots, a neck guard and a tiara. Two sets of metal wings are also included.**_

_**The Heaven's Wheel Armor's special properties include the ability to reequip up to two hundred swords at once and also the ability to fly short distances. Currently, there is only one set known in this world, being under the ownership of Erza Scarlet, daughter to the king of the Fire Kingdom.-**_

Lucy squinted at the last line before frowning softly.

_Under the ownership of Erza Scarlet, daughter to the king of the Fire Kingdom…_

_Who is this Erza Scarlet?_ Lucy tugged at the strands of hair hanging by her face, her face scrunched slightly in concentration. The name, Erza Scarlet had appeared several times through the book so far, the book claiming her to own several sets of magical armor. _The Fire Kingdom…_ Honestly, Lucy had not heard of the Fire Kingdom before, due to her limited knowledge and education. But she did know that they were currently in the White Meadow Kingdom, due to her constant eavesdropping on the town people back at Laflower town. _Is it a neighboring kingdom?_

_Daughter to the king… Is she… Is Erza Scarlet… royalty?_ Lucy had always thought that royalty only existed in the stories her spirits would tell her. Never for once had she thought that they were real. But now the contents of the book questioned her beliefs, smacking question after question into her until they were like bullets in her mental world. She would have continued to think, however a smooth voice interrupted her inward debate, forcing her back into reality.

"I'm sorry Miss Lucy, I need to go back now." Her clock spirit said good-naturedly.

Lucy smiled once before nodding reluctantly in consent, even though the spirit would not be able to see it. "Yeah. Thank you."

She braced herself as the board vanished beneath her with a poof and she sat in mid-air for a fraction of a second. Immediately, the coldness hit her full on, seeping once more through her cloak and onto her skin. She resisted the urge to gag as the stench of the forest travelled uninvited up her nostrils while everything else just seemed… alive for some reason. The mud flew up to meet her as she fell, splatting into the floor. A slight momentary bit of pain later, she hurried to her feet, brushing off the dirt and wetness from her backside with her sleeves. Looking up, she smiled to see that the group had stopped for her, waiting for her to catch up. She grinned sheepishly, placing her book into her side bag securely before hurrying to where the two mages and cat were waiting for her.

She smiled at them. "Any idea where we are walking?" She asked casually.

It was Gray who answered. "We should be getting somewhere as long as we head in a straight line."

"Fair enough." She muttered back before throwing her hood up. From where she walked, she could see the worry etched on his face, the worry that was mirrored onto Natsu's face as well as her own. Especially hers.

They had been walking through this twisted forest for half a day already. Why hasn't the woman, or Gabriel as she had introduced herself as, confronted them yet? Why hasn't she attempted to kill them yet? She must have noticed them by now, due to the loud quarrelling of Gray and Natsu. Heck, they practically scared away most of the animal species in their area. But then even if she had noticed them, what was stopping her from confronting them. Or was she trying to give them a false sense of security.

Frowning warily, she decided to voice her doubts. "Gray. Natsu."

Two heads nodded simultaneously in her direction.

"Why do you think…?" She hesitated slightly. "Why do you think… the woman hasn't confronted us yet?"

There was a short silence.

"I don't know…" Gray finally answered after a moment's contemplation. "She's probably waiting… planning her move."

"Oh." Lucy did not know what to say. "What if…? We're heading towards a trap or something?

This was answered by Natsu with a grin. "It doesn't matter. All we have to do is bash her up, yeah? Then that'll be pretty simple."

Lucy resisted the urge to sweat-drop while Gray, in the corner of her eye, looked like he wanted to give the fire dragon-slayer a punch to the head. "It's not that simple you know?"

"It'll be fine." Natsu reassured. "It'll be fine. We'll get out of here soon… and then I can eat. I wanna eat chicken right now… or something spicy…"

Lucy rolled her eyes while her arm flopped lazily over the surface of her side bag, its rough texture brushing against her cold skin as she walked. Instantly, she was reminded of the stolen book that resided inside it. It also reminded her of her curiosity about the person named Erza Scarlet_. Erza Scarlet… _"Hey? Can I ask something?"

"Yeah?"

"Do any of you know a person called Erza Scarlet?" She glanced at their expressions, hoping for any signs of familiarity.

Natsu shrugged while there was a slight twitch on Gray's dark brow. "Erza… Scarlet?" The ice-make mage muttered. "I don't really know but the name sounds familiar." His fingers fiddled unconsciously with the first few buttons of his coat. "Why the interest?"

"The book from the bookstore…" Lucy began uneasily. "It mentioned her quite a number of times. Apparently, she owns a collection of armors and weapons… and every time, the book always addresses her with the same line. Something about being the daughter of the king of Fire Kingdom…" Tentatively, she raised her voice. "Does royalty really exist?"

"Yeah!" Natsu chimed in. "Of course it exists! The land we are treading right now, the whole of White Meadow Kingdom is under the rule of that royal family called Fer… Fer… Ferendas or something…"

"It's Fernandes, doofus." Gray supplied smoothly, his voice distorted as he ducked under a low tree branch. His coat buttons were undone.

Natsu shot him a glare before focusing onto Lucy. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, this land is ruled by this really creepy old man with white hair who sits on this throne all day polishing his crown! Right Happy?" He grinned at Happy who was perched on his shoulder.

"Aye!"

"Don't make stereotypical descriptions of the king, Flamebrain." Gray eyed him accusingly, all the while stripping himself of his coat.

Natsu tore his gaze from Lucy's to glare at his rival. "Then how am I supposed to describe him?"

"You're _not_ supposed to."

Lucy laughed lightly at their small banter, a large smile pasted onto her face. "Then what about the Fire Kingdom?" She interrupted all the while shivering slightly. She hugged her arms at the intruding layer of iciness that seemed to be on a completely different level to the cold that currently numbed her exposed fingers. Ignoring it, she continued to squelch the mud under her boots.

"I've heard of it." Gray answered back. "It's one of the neighboring lands to White Meadow Kingdom. I don't know much about it, but from what you said, it's probably ruled by the family name, Scarlet. "

"So… Erza Scarlet… She's royalty?" Lucy continued to hug her arms, resisting the urge shudder. Her heart almost skipped a beat when she tripped over a stray root. It was just too dark to see it.

"Yeah…"

Natsu suddenly spoke as if in remembrance. "She's a princess right?"

"And?"

His face brightened. "Princesses are supposed to be the fairest in the land. What if-"

For some unknown reason, Lucy felt an unnatural sensation course through her body at his words. She was sure it had nothing to do with the cold.

"Don't even think about it." Gray eyes his rival intently. "She'll be way out of your league. Even if she is the prettiest in this world, there is no way that they'll let you, a common citizen, marry the princess."

"It'll work out somehow."Natsu shrugged.

After his last words, Lucy didn't have the heart to satisfy her curiosity anymore. _Erza Scarlet… The prettiest in the land… huh?_ For some reason, she felt down. She didn't know why, but the sudden urge to sigh just poked at her. She resisted though. Also, she had to resist the urge to picture the princess as an average maiden with freckled cheeks and a pudgy nose. Shaking her head, she finally let out a silent sigh. _What am I thinking?_

After the events that had transpired throughout the last month or so, she had almost forgotten about Natsu's motive for travelling. She had been so completely focused on the current ordeal that she forgot why they were traveling in the first place.

_To marry the most beautiful woman in the world… huh... _She thought wistfully.

When Natsu first said that to her, there had been an embarrassing moment when she had thought that he had meant her. That was until he quickly corrected himself. At that time, she had wanted to support him- she still does now. But when she thought about it… she had always wondered why Natsu would do such a thing. It was just so… shallow and Natsu did not seem like the type. To be honest, he seemed like the dense type that would marry his best friend. Not that she knew much on romance but Natsu just did not seem like the shallow type that judged based on looks. If that was the case, then he would have never asked her to join him. She shook her head to clear herself of these thoughts as they walked in rhythm to the occasional cries of the forest.

It continued like that for the next few hours as the group trudged through the patches of shrubbery and distantness with no end in sight. Soon, noticeable changes appeared as night fell. The coldness was suffocating, encompassing the group in an unbreakable grasp. It also grew darker, so dark that it was almost impossible to determine where they were walking and where everyone was. They were only guided by Natsu's nose and the small ball of flames in his hand as they continued forward, no longer knowing if they were heading towards the trail or if they were straying further away.

Lucy shivered involuntarily as she squinted. Even through the warm cloak she had acquired, the cold seeped through like falling sand. The ball of flames in Natsu's hands only illuminated a radius of at the most, one meter. Darkness chewed lazily at its edges, dulling it. Still, it was only early evening. More has yet to come. As Lucy shivered again, she found herself daydreaming about the cozy bed of rags and grit she had abandoned back at Laflower Town.

_I wonder if anyone had noticed my absence yet._ She thought distractedly. _I wonder if the mice are still playing with the cockroaches... I wonder if those kids are still playing around at the market._ She drifted wistfully into her memories, thinking about anything but the cold, dreary path that currently lay ahead of her. _I wonder…_

She never completed that thought. At that exact moment, there had been a brilliant flash of white light from above. A second later, a wave of magic swept over them like a tsunami. Her body froze completely at the sudden echoing waves of powerful magic surrounding her, much like the wave before, only magnified by ten. Fearfully, she could only gape at the shocked expressions of her companions as they moved simultaneously to dive into the nearby bushes to escape. Her eyes widened. She couldn't move. Her body had frozen out of shock and fear as she stared blankly, her right hand frozen halfway to her mouth.

Everything seemed like a blur. All a sudden, Natsu stopped in his tracks and turned around, shouting something at her. Move? Get out of here? She knew it was something on the lines of that, but she couldn't move. Her body just won't move.

_What's going on?_

Natsu's features darkened momentarily as he seemed to notice her inability to move. After the slightest bit of hesitance, he dove towards her, his arms outstretched. As if in slow motion, Natsu tackled her waist, an unreadable expression pasted onto his features. The breath was knocked out of her as his warm body weight pushed onto her frame, tackling them both into the nearby bushes. She fell into the leaves and mud with a crashing thud. Pain clouded her consciousness.

A moment later, another painful burst of white light charred her eyes. The pain was unbearable. A powerful surge of power resounded heavily, knocking her into the air. Wide-eyed, Lucy watched as the ground flew away from her. From the corner of her eye, Natsu was thrown up simultaneously with her. The feel of weightlessness blended in with her other emotions and feels as she flew backwards into the air. Instantly, her arm reacted, reaching out for Natsu, the closest person. She didn't know where Gray was. She couldn't even comprehend her situation. All she was conscious of were that she was flying backwards and the closest living person was only a few meters away from her. As she looked hopefully towards Natsu, she gasped as another sudden wave tore Happy off Natsu's shoulder. She could not begin to describe Natsu's reaction.

"HAPPY!" His fearful cry was drowned by a thundering crash. Desperately, he tried to reach out for his friend only to be blasted back by another surge of magic.

"N-Natsu!" Lucy's own voice wavered as she felt herself sailing higher and higher into the air. Fear pierced into her core. _This was it._ With half-lidded eyes, she watched as Natsu attempted to get to Happy. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut in defeat, her arms held out limply towards him.

_I'm going to die here._

"LUCY!"

Her eyes blinked open once more when something warm latched onto her wrist. _Natsu._She turned head in mid-air to face him before weakly twisting her arm to hold onto his.

As if reading her mind, Natsu suddenly shouted out. "WE'RE NOT GONNA DIE HERE."

_Natsu..._ Lucy's mind blanked as she flew into the air, ripping a thin limb off a tree as they hurtled pass. The only thing she was conscious of was their linked hands. She held tighter, closing her eyes. It was agony as they were blasted up. The pain stung at her from every angle. As her flight seemed to slow down, she realized something with a startled jolt. What goes up must go down.

Within a moment, it started. The free-fall. Her stomach immediately rose into her chest. A scream was torn from her throat. She didn't know how high they were blasted up, but she did know that no normal human being, mage or not, would escape this completely unharmed. She panicked. But then, out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Natsu's expression. It was not the expression of one who had given up. Instead, it was an expression of determination.

"Lucy! Call out one of your spirits!"

Lucy turned her head to face his determination, attempting to ignore the uplifting feel of her stomach in its attempt to regurgitate, even though she hadn't eaten anything for ages. With much difficulty, she tugged her keys from her belt. "Which one!?" She yelled back, narrowly avoiding a large tree branch.

He didn't answer. A second later, her arm screamed in pain as their linked hands were snapped apart by a stray tree branch. Her injured arm grasped out weakly, throbbing hotly while the agony was sent to her brain. At once, Lucy let out a low scream as she and the fire-slayer drifted apart. Branches and indistinguishable obstacles caused her to tumble and twist as she fell. At one point, midway through her unintentional somersault, Natsu had disappeared completely from her point of view.

"Natsu!" She yelled breathlessly.

It was futile. There was no answer, only the foreshadowing dread of hitting the forest floor.

_Natsu._ Her mind flickered. _Happy._ Another unknown obstacle whizzed pass her, inches from her right eye. _Gray. _She squeezed her eyes shut. _I'm not ready to die yet._

The wind rushed at her, tearing at her cloak which billowed around her like a parachute. This only made it worse as parts of it obstructed her view and caused her to tumble in mid-air. Her side bag kept slipping off her shoulders as she felt for her trusted keys, molding each one's unique design to her fingertips, their cold metal a relief to her warm skin. _Which one? Which one? Obviously, I couldn't summon Aquarius. There is no water! _Her heart sped up_. So that leaves Virgo and Horologium. _She felt a familiar design and made her choice. _Please work._

"O-open! Gate of the clock constellation!" She choked out as the chosen key glowed dully in the night. "HOROLOGIUM!"

The effect was immediate. A warm barrier encased her, followed by a loud thud that sent vibrations resounding through Horologium's body and into her was a momentarily peace as she sat, her hand to her heart in attempt to calm its rage. Her stomach seemed out of place, while her body shuddered involuntarily several times.

_Natsu. Gray. Happy._ She blinked worriedly. _Where are they? Are they alright?_ Did they, like her, use their magic to their advantage? She didn't have to worry about Happy too much. He had wings. He definitely made it safely. But then there was Natsu and Gray. How did they cope? What if they smashed their skulls when they fell? Quickly, she shook her head to rid herself of this thought, her heart hysterical. No. They're smarter than that. She can trust that they landed safely.

With a palm on her heart, she waited several minutes for her pulse to regain its former speed. Even when the speed was finally normal, it was still pounding louder than the average beat. She breathed in and exhaled slowly in an attempt to calm down, pondering her current situation. She didn't have time to worry about the others. She could only trust in them that they would be alive and healthy the next time they meet. For now, the only thing that she can and needed to do was to care about herself and to get out from her current situation.

Fear and worry struck out at her once more as she contemplated her current ordeal. There was no doubt that the blast had sent her to an unfamiliar part of the forest. The group wasn't with her anymore and it was growing dark. Even now, the darkness was heavy. She hated to think how dark it would in a couple of hours.

From experience, she knew that she should stay in one place if she was ever lost. But doubts flung themselves at her, digging into her consciousness. What if the woman, the person who she had encountered before, is still after her? What if she would be killed in a mere few hours?

Her fear grew the more she tried to calm herself. _It's alright._ She reassured herself. _I've been alone my whole life. People have been trying to assassinate me my whole life. This should be easy._

As soon as her breathing pattern calmed down, Lucy threw her hood on, all the while pondering what to do. The first thing, she decided was that she needed light… and warmth. Only one thing flew into her mind.

Fire.

All of a sudden, she remembered the packet of matches that she had stolen from the contents of Gray's bag. Despite her situation, a smile snuck its way onto her lips as she contemplated. What if she built a fire? Then that would send a signal to where she was! Even in this forest, Natsu should be able to sniff out the scent of smoke which would then lead him to her!

She felt giddy with excitement when she realized her genius plan. The fear and worry that used to remain contained in her stomach was diminished by the confidence she had.

_I'll find a flat surface first._ She promised herself. _I'll find somewhere where I can make a fire then Natsu, Gray and Happy would know where to find me. It wouldn't matter if the woman finds me, cause then, I'll just hold her there until Natsu or someone shows up. Either way it would be a win-win situation for me. If a wild beast pops up then I'll cook it._

As soon as she deemed herself as steady, she tumbled out from her shelter and into the vast iciness of the forest, her back squelching ungracefully into the mud.

"Thank you, Horologium!"She took a gulp of cold air and smiled gently at the spirit. "You may go back now."

"It was my pleasure." The spirit replied good-naturedly. "And do feel free to summon me again." With that, he vanished with a small poof, leaving her alone in the pressing darkness.

_Alone..._

Immediately, Lucy regretted sending him back. She was alone again. This time, she was lost in the darkness of an unfamiliar place. She shivered before drawing her cloak tighter around herself, fear trickling through her built-up confidence. Suddenly she felt so insignificant, like a fly caught in an abandoned gloom was depressing. Now, without Natsu's fire, the air seemed so much unkinder, more desolate and dark. She could barely make out her open palm without drawing it an arm's length in front of her eyes.

_Fire._

She needed fire.

Without further ado, she scraped the nearby area for bits of wooden chunks and dried leaves and within minutes, she had gathered a small mess of debris. Everything ran smoothly, like she had predicted in her mind. But there was a slight complication.

She had been about to toss the pile of rubble onto the mud when a stirring gleam caught her eye. She had almost dropped her things in shock. She hadn't noticed it before but now when she peered into the darkness, it was so painfully obvious that there was something wriggling about.

A rather large worm-like creature, roughly the size of a human arm, could be distinguished from the mess of blackness, its slimy skin glinting wetly as it tunneled through the mud. In the darkness, it seemed to be oozing black slime. Slowly, as if charmed, it raised a head, almost as if it had sensed an intruder's presence. A low gurgling buzz could be heard as the creature rose to its full length, swaying from side to side.

Somewhat disgusted, Lucy hesitated before shuffling her pile of debris to one arm and picking it up the worm with her right hand. At once, the slime covered her palm, soaking it while the worm wiggled mercilessly for freedom. A horrible scent filled the air.

Lucy made a grimace before swinging it to and fro for momentum. On her third swing, she managed to chuck its weight as far as she could into the nearby greenery. It had been unexpectedly light but its slimy layer had caused difficulty in picking up. As soon as she dropped the fire fuel that she had been carrying, Lucy wiped the remaining goo onto the nearby leaves before rubbing it against the helm of her cloak gingerly, all the while wincing at the thought of a slimy cloak.

Swallowing the saliva in her mouth, she then fumbled through her side bag, which miraculously did not fall off during the unknown blast. She trembled as she fiddled with the small box of matches. Within minutes, a small fire was born. It was small at first, and then it had swollen into a raging dance of red and gold. The smoke engulfed her senses but she was glad to have the fire as company. Slowly, she raised her head to follow the trail of the smoke, staring until it disappeared into the canopy.

It was still cold, but now it was bearable. With a small sigh, Lucy dropped her weight onto the mud as close as possible to the roaring fire. The heat seared at her skin while the smoke clogged her nose but she didn't care. She welcomed the heat and light. She welcomed the smoky scent that came with it. Smiling, she only watched it burn while she settled into a comfortable position.

_Natsu should be here soon… _She thought victoriously. _He would catch the scent of fire and then he'll follow it. _With a content smile, she waited beside the roaring fire_. He'll definitely come. _

She waited. For a long while, there was no sound other than the crackling spits of the fire. Time passed almost tortuously. The seconds passed at a snail's pace while the minutes were almost impossible to calculate.

After what seemed like days, a sharp snap of a branch caught her attention. Instantly, she was at her feet, her face brightening at the general direction of the sound.

"Who is it?" She questioned eagerly, hoping that it wasn't a stray beast. Her voice croaked from the lack of use. She squinted as a figure finally emerged from the darkness and partially into the light of the fire. The figure seemed to limp, an arm held out crookedly towards her as it stepped into the light.

Lucy's heart almost stopped when the light flickered briefly over a scarred face, the same hideous scar that would haunt her nightmares. The bloody red eyes glowed manically as the figure limped forward, clutching the surrounding trees and branches for support with clawed fingers as she emerged into the wavering light. Even from a distance, Lucy could make out the beads of sweat that had gathered at the base of her throat. Her hair, which used to be long, was now chopped unevenly around her shoulders. Her dress was ripped in several places while her right arm was twisted at an unnatural angle. Fresh blood pooled onto darkly onto the mud at her feet. A single cut marred her pale neck.

It was the woman. It was the same woman who had forced them into this mess. It was the same woman who had haunted her thoughts for the past few weeks. Lucy's breath hitched in her throat when their eyes made contact. The woman's lips hung open while her scarred face rippled in the fire light. Her eyes seemed to waver as if half unconscious.

"So… Princess." A sarcastic emphasis was noticeable as she leered at her with bared teeth. "You finally escaped?"

Lucy froze completely as horror struck her like a blade of ice.

**Thanks for reading!**

**I hope to update soon :)**


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